Lindsay

In Which Derrick Celebrates His Birth

2012-02-01T07:39:00.002-07:00

Derrick turned 26 yesterday. Now begins the two months where he seems way older than me than he actually is (which is 14 months and 1 day).

Last weekend Derrick's family came from Boise to surprise him and celebrate. I wish I took more pictures. We all had a great time and appreciated their taking time to come and spoil us. (Plus any time with our baby nephew is very welcome!)

Be Careful...

2012-01-10T15:02:00.005-07:00

Be careful what you wish for.

In this post, I wished for a few things.
Happily, I received the Star Wars blu-ray set for Christmas.
And,
my baby brother came home, safe and sound.

But...I wished for it to be summer vacation again. It has been sunny and warm here in Utah (and in Idaho, where we spent a chunk of Christmas break). No snow. Brown mountains. My brand new skis that I got for Christmas sitting in my parents' garage.
Not okay, universe, not okay.

'Bout Sums it Up

2011-11-16T10:44:00.003-07:00

This has been an extremely difficult past couple of months both physically and emotionally, but I feel blessed to have been able to get caught up in school (mostly) and am looking forward to this semester winding down. Luckily I can appreciate the early sounds of Christmas without worrying about impending finals. I took all writing courses this semester, so I have written about a thousand pages (with another thousand to go), but nooooo finals!

I'm stoked for Thanksgiving next week in Boise and then Christmas in Provo with none other than Elder Christian Agle, returned from Thailand!! (December 12th is his return date! Counting down...) My niece is also in currently in town for a couple of months from Manhattan, and that has been brightening my life and causing my gas tank to empty as I keep driving down to Provo to see her.

Well I have to run off for my bajillionth blood test in the past few weeks and then it's back to work preparing for my oral argument for summary judgment tonight. (Which has taken a back seat to a lot of my other work, so I need to work feverishly!)

Musings

2011-09-26T15:11:00.007-06:00

Despite Pres Uchtdorf's inspirational message on Saturday evening, I am still going to take one moment to wish for my Golden Ticket.

I really want this, even with the changes.

I really want it to be summer vacation again.

I really want it to be December 12th, when my partner in crime comes back home.

As for the chocolate in my life right now,
*School has been kicking my butt all semester but it doesn't change the fact that I love school and always will. I am dreading next September, when, for the first time since toddler-hood, I will not be starting a new year of school.
*I am starting to see Halloween decorations around. I have eaten candy corn and Reese's pumpkins. This means I should have no cause for sadness.
*In less than two weeks I will be in fabulously wonderful Pittsburgh, enjoying two weddings (one of which includes TWO besties - marrying each other!) and a beautiful Pennsylvania fall. I haven't seen a real Eastern fall since high school. My trip will include a stop in Washington DC (first time going into the DC temple to do something besides baptisms!) and possibly NYC to visit my brother's family.
*Football is in session. This alone can make me happy at any time or in any circumstance.

P.S. I mean this as no offense to anybody, but I just don't get Pinterest. What cool aspect am I missing? (Note: My indifference to website may be due to my indifference to clothes, crafts, or photographs.)

Dude Where's My Brain

2011-09-21T09:38:00.003-06:00

I always sit down here to write something intelligent, but my brain is absolutely sucked dry these days. I expected my 3L year to be kick back but I somehow felt the need to load up my classes with actual practical work. (In contrast to most law semesters where you don't do a single assignment - with the exception of a lot of reading - until the final, which accounts for 100% of your grade)

I'm realizing that I just want to be a lifelong academic, not a career woman. I just want to study and learn, not actually litigate or appeal.

So there you have it. I have nothing intelligent to say.

Here and There

2011-09-19T12:00:00.003-06:00

I am trying to focus on my appellate brief, but I keep ending up on random people's blogs and Facebook nonstop. I have decided to give in and give myself a few minutes to relax before hitting the court record again.

I decided to write all the places Derrick and I have lived to in our three years of marriage:

Provo, UT
Salt Lake City, UT
Eagle, ID
Sao Paulo, Brazil

Now here are all the places we've been to in our four-ish years together:

The four places above (duh)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Recife, Brazil
Curitiba, Brazil
Manaus (Amazon), Brazil
Foz do Iguazu, Brazil
Washington DC
Pittsburgh, PA
Niagra Falls
Palmyra, NY
Kirtland, OH
Cleveland, OH
Disneyland
LA, CA
San Diego, CA
Newport, OR
Kenosha, WI
Chicago, IL
NYC, NY
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Aruba
Curaçao
US Virgin Islands
McCall, ID
Cortez, CO
Sun Valley, ID
Bear Lake, ID
Montpelier, ID

We have also driven from Pittsburgh to Utah, from NYC to Pittsburgh, from Palmyra to Pittsburgh, from Utah to Boise (so, so many times), from Pittsburgh to DC, from Boise to the Oregon Coast, and lots of other short trips all over Utah and Idaho. So I guess you can count the many places in between as well.

The News

2011-08-09T14:36:00.003-06:00

The news is bad, the Dow is out of control, people are dying, yadda yadda. It all sucks. But I know I can always trust Wolf Blitzer to tell me about the most important stuff.

By the way, last Friday, Derrick and I went with my dad to the summit of Mt. Timpanogos to celebrate his 50th birthday from 11,700 feet. Roundtrip, the trip took us 12 hours. There were a lot of snowfields that never melted since it was such a wet year, so we had to cross a lot of snow with only our poles to keep us from plunging down hundreds of feet into sharp rocks. But we made it and had a great time! I love hiking. And a pic from the summit...

Something I'm Happy About

2011-07-30T20:48:00.004-06:00

I've spent a lot of time complaining on this blog. But starting tomorrow, I smile. Why? Beginning of Shark Week. I had to miss all of Shark Week last year due to our living in a country that doesn't know what it's missing.

Also, on Friday, I'm hiking Mt. Timp for my dad's 50th birthday. I will be happy to share the details if I live to tell the tale (questionable).

I'm Whining Again

2011-07-30T20:25:00.004-06:00

This conversation happened while I was riding down an elevator downtown with some (male) lawyers I had just had a business meeting with:

Attorney #1 (to the two males): I have high hopes for BYU football this year. Getting season tickets?
Attorney #2: (to the two males): Definitely. It took them a while to get their footing last year, but I think our defense will kick it up this season and get it all figured out.
The conversation turns to the defense for a couple of floors.

Attorney #1 (to me): Lindsay would probably prefer we talk about BYU volleyball or something.

OH NO YOU DIH-UNT! Don't you dare assume I can't keep up in a conversation about BYU football.

Me: Actually, I'm from Pittsburgh. Football is life.
Attorney #3: That's not real football.

EXCUSE ME, UTAHN? Pittsburgh has more football tradition and triumph in its little finger than you have in your whole state.

Pardon my rant. I no longer have the Daily Universe as a potential forum. (I should have taken advantage of that opportunity while I had it. *sigh*)

Unbalanced Equation

2011-07-18T18:16:00.003-06:00

Bachelor's Degree from a respected university + 2 years of post-graduate education at a respected law school = No job?

I never was good at math. And apparently, I'm a worthless lawyer.

Boo.

On the bright side, I get to view my fair share of TLC re-runs!

The Final Countdown

2011-07-09T10:05:00.007-06:00

Remember the spazzy Dumbledore in the fourth film?

My mom, my sister, and I are marathoning every movie in the next few days. Call it lame if you must. But folks, we are in the final countdown! Only a few more days!

Seriously, I couldn't be more excited to see these two snogging...

And since I named this post the final countdown, I can't help but include this gem from Arrested Development. (My Provo blood still runs thick.)

My Entire Life

2011-07-02T08:37:00.007-06:00

Everyone knows I'm an absolutely wretched housekeeper...except for me. The two best words to describe my efforts at housekeeping would be denial and avoidance. On any given day, Derrick says, "Don't you think the house is getting messy?" and I say, "it looks fine to me!" Meanwhile, I am walking in a zigzag pattern to avoid tripping over the five obstacles between me and the door three feet away.

Dishes are one of my greatest nemeses.

(Click on and zoom in)
The most pathetic part is that I actually do the last step. Not buy a new house, but leave ours and go to my parents' house, where dishes magically clean themselves.

Tour de FroYo

2011-06-26T07:40:00.017-06:00

Yesterday we fulfilled one of Derrick's greatest dreams - visiting every frozen yogurt place in Provo/Orem area in one trip. It's an absurdly saturated market, but I guess it makes sense. Most college towns have bars; Provo has frozen yogurt shops. What else can the students do on a Saturday night?

So, we listed out every frozen yogurt place we could think of, and then consulted Google to make sure our list was exhaustive. We only visited places where we could get frozen yogurt (i.e., we left out Coldstone, etc.). Armed with four participants and a $20 bill we resolved not to exceed, we journeyed out.

At all nine places, we spent $20 to the penny. At stores selling by the ounce, we mastered the skill of lifting the lever down and yanking it right back up to get the least amount possible. At stores where they serve you, we got the kiddie size and split it. Even though our portions were tiny, we were prettty sick of frozen yogurt by the last shop.

Still, so worth it.

A photo collection of our efforts in chronological order: (Forgive the fact that I'm not showered and in my bathing suit. Once Derrick decided to go, he would not spare one moment!)

Farr's Fresh:
Verdict - Overpriced, and not the best flavors. I did enjoy my cookie batter, though.

Yogurtland:
Verdict - This is generally one of my favorite places, but my peppermint flavor was off. (And I LOVE peppermint.)

Spoon it Up:
Verdict - My yogurt was a wee bit runny, even when the employee adjusted the machine. Plus my peanut butter cup was too heavy on chocolate.

Sub-Zero:
Verdict - I have been a fan of Sub-Zero since it was a podunk shop on north State Street in Orem. I am pleased that they have expanded. Anyway, I had never gotten their straight frozen yogurt until then, and our peanut butter flavor did not disappoint.

YoZone:
Verdict - My red velvet flavor was absolutely divine.

Spoon Me:
CLOSED. I'm glad to see it go. I was never a fan.

Earth Fruits Yogurt: (Formerly Yoasis)
Verdict - Overpriced like crazy. We managed to escape paying 98 cents having put the tiniest dollop in our cup. I liked their acai flavor, even though I didn't love it in Brazil.

Hogi Yogi:
CLOSED!!? Whaaat? This store is a classic image of the edge of BYU's campus. Its legacy will shine forth, and BYU will never be the same. (OK, I guess I never went...)

Red Mango:
Verdict - I generally dislike the natural frozen yogurt flavor, but this was pretty good. Props.

Golden Spoon:
Verdict - Blissssss. In our little kiddie size, we ordered half graham cracker, half cinnamon. Do yourself a favor and get these flavors. (And she gave us plenty in our little cup, so don't spend too much.) We weren't expecting to finish it since our little tummies were beginning to hate us, but...we finished it.

AND finally...
Costco:
Verdict - Who doesn't love Costco frozen yogurt? Affordable and delicious. I can't say much about it, though, because we all ate about half a spoonful-worth and the rest is in the freezer for a year from now when we're not sick of frozen yogurt.

To end our day, we ate at Pizza Pie Cafe. (Cause who doesn't want a pizza buffet after nine frozen yogurt places?) It was located in the same area as what used to be Provo FroYo, the store that started it all, now closed. Sigh.

Classy Clan

2011-06-24T10:58:00.008-06:00

We had fah-mily portraits taken last week before my brother-in-law's mission farewell. Since their last family portrait before Derrick's mission, the family has grown by four. I'd bet that it will continue to grow rapidly from here out.

Enjoy our swanky shot. The glamorous, ooooh, the flossy flossy.

Photocred: Dan Bachman

Adventures in Babysitting

2011-06-22T09:21:00.005-06:00

Has anyone seen the movie "Adventures in Babysitting?" One of my good friends Freshman year insisted it was a masterpiece. We ended up on the same flight home that year to Chicago (my connection to Pittsburgh) and watched it on his laptop with his sister. The two of them were howling, and I just didn't get it. Maybe it's one of those things you have to grow up with. Much like "Heavyweights," for me and my siblings, which we think is our generation's "Citizen Kane." However, when I show it to other people, they give me some indulgent chuckles. Anyway, I digress.

Last night I had my first non-family babysitting job in probably ten years. I've been watching the dog in Provo (a very satisfactory sitting job), and I got a call from a family friend from Pittsburgh. His family was visiting Provo with extended family and needed a sitter for the night. This ruined my important evening plans of eating ice cream and chips while watching the E! Channel, but I agreed anyway. They told me there would be seven kids. This was my greatest nightmare realized.

I showed up and learned that the older kids would be staying home, so my tally increased to ten kids. The age range was seven months to ten years old. I was informed that there was a theater room where I could play movies all night (every babysitter's hope - that they will not actually have to entertain the kids). We watched a bit of a movie in a mostly peaceful manner until the projector broke. Just when I thought I had gotten things settled down enough to grab a copy of US Magazine I found. Silly me. A little girl had shrieked and then the projector switched into standby mode and wouldn't turn back on. I just couldn't wait to tell the house owner (the grandparents) that their super expensive electronic inexplicably zapped.

From then on, it was ten kids screaming, fighting, biting, falling, crying (there was not a minute that went by that entire night that someone wasn't crying), yelling, name-calling, tripping, shouting, smacking, yakking, jumping from high heights... Until the parents came home and rescued me. And paid me.

Ten things I learned in my evening:
1. The distribution of popcorn can cause more conflict than the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.
2. When I have small children, I will adopt a ten-year-old boy to help out. The oldest boy totally stepped up.
3. If I see a situation in which I know someone could get hurt, the longer I don't ban the activity, the higher the likelihood that someone will get hurt. (like 100%)
4. Forced apologies are never sincere, even when I teach the girls about the power of the girl talk circle.
5. Everything is harder when you have a seven-month-old in your arms all night, especially when said infant gets cranky.
6. Stupid is a very naughty word. So is shut up. But Poop Head isn't. (Judged by when the kids called each other out for language.)
7. I am dang good with names.
8. Taking breaks to sneak away and drink cans of Diet Dr. Pepper I discovered in the fridge can really help ease the pain. Will remember this.
9. Kids have no concept of "Yes I heard you but let me help the six other kids who requested me first."
10. A night like this is the best birth control I've ever come across.

True Love

2011-06-20T19:41:00.008-06:00

So here Derrick and I are again, dog sitting at my parents' house in Provo.

But who could resist this face? (Derrick, among others).

(looking grudgingly up at me while I snap a pic of him sleeping with my iPad)

I love this dog so much.

Toddler Roger Ebert

2011-06-15T21:25:00.002-06:00

I was missing my two year old niece today, who is now a Manhattan socialite and therefore more than a thousand miles away from me.

Here was her re-telling of Beauty and the Beast after we watched it a couple of months ago...

"Belle was sad because she couldn't say bye-bye to her daddy. Then the bear got an owie so he turned into a man."

I've Nary Been Home

2011-06-13T23:52:00.009-06:00

For the past month I have nary been either in SLC or alone with Derrick. I spent the first two weeks of May dog sitting at my parents' house. Then all my in-laws came down so that my brother-in-law (upcoming mission) and sister-in-law (then upcoming wedding) could go through the temple. It was awesome to be with the whole family in the temple, sans my other brother-in-law, who had to sit out to watch my new awesome nephew.

Then a few days later, my sister-in-law got married, which was a top-notch affair. Welcome to da fam, Chase.
(I have some intense butt-sticking out problems in this picture. Dayna and my baby sister Amanda look great. I swear my butt is not that big.)

Then Derrick and I got to spend Memorial Day weekend in....wait for it...exciting Montpelier, ID! We visited his grandma and other relatives as well as some graves. The highlight of the trip, though, came when we took a different route home than we usually do and had to drive through Preston, home of Napoleon Dynamite. We had planned to get strawberry milkshakes at Big J's, home of the great "I'm just a little TO'd though, because she hasn't even sent me a full body shot" scene. Hoping to find a run down hole in the wall shack in the middle of a cornfield, we were bummed to find a shiny burger joint called Big J's right in the middle of town. BUT...as we were driving down their main street, I saw.........the Cuttin' Corral!!!! It exists!!! If that does not ring a bell, Napoleon tells Deb that he already gets his hair cut at the Cuttin' Corral in the notorious "Your mom goes to college" scene. I snapped a pic through my window with my phone, but it is not worth re-posting. Just trust me on this one.

A few days later, we were back on the road, this time to go to Boise for Dayna's second reception. We spent a few days hanging out there. Her second reception was lovely.

We got one more day back at home before we got on a plane and met Derrick's family in Orange County, California. We spent a couple of days in Oceanside at the best beach house ever. Seriously, it was right on the beach and it had a hot tub. We could swim around in the bitterly cold ocean water and then run up and jump into the hot tub. Not too bad of a deal. We spent a day in Magic Mountain (I LOOOVE roller coasters!) and then eventually ended up for a few days in Anaheim. We concluded our trip this afternoon. We're leaving again in a few days for Derrick's brother's mission farewell in Boise. WHEW.
(Minute to Win It at the beach house)

(New Star Tours ride.)

Wuddup homie G

Yeah, he's pretty much the best nephew ever.

Candid Smile

2011-05-25T22:10:00.002-06:00

The morning I couldn't stop smiling...

What I've Been Up To

2011-05-16T08:21:00.005-06:00

Do you really wanna know? It's not very exciting. There are no pictures to accompany it as I have done nothing remotely warranting photographic memory.

I finished finals. Wooohooooooo!!! I like to say that I'm all done with my second year of law school but that's not entirely true because I promised to write and file a Petition for DNA Testing in Nevada for my internship. I will do that someday. But the basic gist is that I'm done I'm done I'm done! Only one year left!

For the past three weeks my parents have been in Ghana, as my professor father took MPA students to work with the non-profits there. The job of dog sitter fell to me. I spent my days in an empty house in Provo tending to the coolest dog who has ever lived. We had him while I was still in high school, so we are best buddies. We went hiking in Rock Canyon every morning and during the day I told him all my deepest secrets. Derrick was in and out of the house, splitting his time between Provo, SLC, and Boise, so I was alone a lot. One might demise from my watching the A&E Pride and Prejudice that I was bored and hating life, but I was actually feeling pretty satisfied. It could be the fatigue from a hard year of law school, but who knows? Maybe I could get used to staying home all day. I would probably be tending a baby instead of a dog, which is too bad, because babies can't scale rock bases or protect me from rapists. How will I exercise without my hikes? Everyone knows I hate running.

Are you still reading?

The best thing that happened to me in the past couple of weeks was that I got to face Skype my little brother on his mission in Thailand. Since I was home alone I got him all to myself, other than a brief conversation he attempted to have with the dog.

The worst thing that happened to me in the past couple of weeks was that my brother and his wife moved from Provo to Manhattan, taking my little niece with them. She's gone. I already miss that little bugger like crazy.

So now my parents have returned and I am back in my SLC apartment deciding what to do with my summer. Clearly I should be working, but legal jobs are scarce and I don't want to be snooty, but I hate to take a fast food job when I have a bachelors degree and almost a doctorate under my belt. Unfortunately, all that education has given me no skills whatsoever for a legitimate job. I guess I will have to settle for the local Wendy's.

*Fellow American Idol watchers- Was I the only one who was kind of happy to see James go? I was never particularly impressed with his vocal skills. He was out of tune all the time. (Or should I say "pitchy.")

*I wrote this whole thing on my new (free!) iPad, so forgive the typos that I'm sure are rampant.

Mottos

2011-04-25T13:18:00.008-06:00

As I plug along in my first final (a take-home of epic length), these are the things I keep telling myself:
1. If I don't write, nothing will get written.
2. Staring at a blank screen won't help ideas magically form in my mind.
3. Staring at a blank screen won't cause it to be become less blank.
4. Nobody is going to email me. Stop checking.
5. Ditto Facebook.
6. Ditto cell phone.
7. If I keep typing, I will finish faster.
8. I took a break 15 minutes ago and haven't done jack squat since. My mind doesn't need another break.

These are the nasty back voices that answer those thoughts:
1. If I don't write, it's because I'm thinking through my answer.
2. The longer I stare at this screen, the more I am pondering my next move.
3. The longer I stare at this screen, my paper may decide to start writing itself.
4. Somebody might email me. Check again.
5. Ditto Facebook.
6. Ditto cell phone.
7. If I finish, it just means I need to start studying for my next final.
8. I need another break.

Obviously, the back voices usually win.

asdfkjadsf

2011-04-11T18:26:00.002-06:00

Courtney, I'm borrowing your format for this all-over-the-place post.

1. I'm seriously stoked about the iPad 2 that I won in a nationwide drawing of law students. But then I got an email saying it wouldn't be here for another 3-5 weeks. Sheesh! Derrick told me that I have no right to whine since I am literally getting a free iPad for doing nothing more than liking Kaplan on Facebook and verifying my status as a law student. But still! I want it!
2. Semester is drawing to a close. I am thrilled but terrified. Here's to hoping I can learn a whole lot about Administrative Law before the 28th! I think I'm okay in my other classes, but admin law? Shudder shudder.
3. Next week I get to celebrate my older brother's BYU graduation AND Sam's and Jenna's wedding AND my cute little sister's prom! (These will all be between studying admin law like a mad woman and bursting into tears when I still can't remember the difference between informal and formal adjudications and how they apply to certain agencies.)
4. I've had three best girlfriends from my BYU days have babies in the past couple of months and I haven't seen a single one. I have only made it to one baby shower. I am such a terrible friend.
5. I'm still mad that Pia got voted off American Idol. I swore when Jennifer Hudson got voted off in Season 3 that I would never watch the show again. Now I think I'm actually going to stick to that resolve. (Seven years later.)
6. I'm not going to lie. I have been following the Royal Wedding. I'm aware that it does not affect me in the least and people are dying all over the world. Kate's dress better rock or else I will have wasted hours reading about such important things as which designer she might pick.
7. I really need to get to work.

Happy Bersday

2011-04-04T09:02:00.004-06:00

Last Friday was my 24th birthday. Yes, April Fool's Day.

The cool thing about this birthday - The day my mom turned 24, she was due with me any day. So on March 28th, my mom celebrated her 48th birthday, and on Friday I celebrated my 24th. She's my exact double with the exception of like 4 days. Then my mom's mom (Grammy) told me that she was 24 while she was pregnant with my mom. I guess I have 12 months to keep up the chain...

My two-year-old niece has gotten way into birthdays. She called me in the morning to wish me "happy bersday" and tell me all about the cake Nana (my mom) was making me and my presents on the table. She told me I would blow out bersday candles. Later, when we drove down to Provo, I got to spend all night with that little bugger (minus an hour or two at Derrick's mission reunion), who repeatedly told me that it was my bersday. Loved it.

I have no pictures because I forgot my camera and our good camera went with my little sister to her Morp. (Reverse Prom, a girl-ask-guy dance) The theme of the dance was "ugly Prom," so I helped her get ready in one of my mom's nasty old bridesmaid dresses and did her hair in a sweet 80s poof. My mom completed the look by fluffing her bangs. She looked awesome. The boy she asked was lucky indeed.

General Conference rocked. The talk about being v. doing was pretty much the best talk I've ever heard.

Rural Nevada

2011-03-30T07:39:00.006-06:00

So I got to spend the last few days in places like this...

And this...

I got to eat here not once, but twice...

I spent many hours driving through landscapes that looked like this...

I got to interview hostile people in settings such as this...

I wish I could give details about what I did and who I interacted with, but that violates the "attorney-client privilege." I also can't give any details about my case except that it is fascinating and awesome hands-on work. This is the coolest internship ever!

Spring Break

2011-03-22T08:29:00.003-06:00

I am technically on Day Four of my spring break, which lasts until Sunday. I feel kind of bummy right now because by this point in my fall break, I had finished all my outlines and made giant strides in my internship. At that time, I was trying to get stuff done in order to justify my family's trip to Disneyland in the latter half of the week. This break, I am going to Reno and rural Nevada for the latter half, but somehow, it just doesn't have the same exciting draw as Disneyland... I know, I am also scratching my head as to why that is. I do feel sort of "important," though, as it is my first grown-up business trip as a lawyer. Too bad it's not to Manhattan or something.

So why can't I focus and churn out work from 4 AM until 10 PM like I did over fall break when I have THIS to look forward to!

I have pretty much done nothing since the break began. I've spent a lot of time in Provo with my family. Yesterday I got to spoil my niece rotten and then go skiing with Derrick and my brother. There is such beauty to skiing in untouched snow when you have the mountain to yourself. I've watched a lot of March Madness games. I'm happy for Jimmer and the boys. My heart was broken by Pitt. I was so depressed after that game ended that I couldn't even cheer for BYU. A quote from ESPN.com - "If you know a Pitt fan, give them a hug. There aren't many worse ways to lose." Hear hear. I am accepting hugs now.

Parks and Recreation makes me smile.
The NFL lock-out makes me frown.
Derrick makes me smile.
Impending finals make me frown.
Very special upcoming weddings make me smile.
This endless, pointless post makes you frown.

Facebook Offish

2011-03-15T21:43:00.005-06:00

Derrick and I are officially married on Facebook now. Thank you ahead of time for your congratulations. We will be accepting round two of wedding gifts.

Ranking My Education

2011-03-15T18:46:00.003-06:00

Today is a big day for law students, future law students, and alumni. Today was the day US News and Report issued its annual law school rankings. Congratulations to us; we moved neither up nor down in the rankings, holding strong at #42, tied with BYU, Arizona, and UC Hastings.

A couple of years ago, when I was applying to law school, that meant something. There were four tiers of law schools. Schools ranked 1-50 were "Tier 1," schools ranked 50-100 were "Tier 2," schools after 100 to a certain cutoff (200ish) were "Tier 3," and any school left were "Tier 4." Now the times have changed. Last year, they changed it and schools ranked 1-100 were "Tier 1," and then there was "Tier 3" and "Tier 4." This year, there are only two tiers. They rank the first 200 odd schools, and then anything left is "Tier 2." Sounds great, huh? Unfortunately, this change reflects a problem with the trends of law schools nationwide.

The legal job market is constantly shrinking, yet law schools still enjoy a booming business, enticing students by faulty employment numbers and promises of a ticket to easy street. "Tier 4" law schools keep opening up (yes, I will still call them Tier 4), often with enrollment numbers in the thousands. They charge more than $40,000 a year and churn out lawyers into our already congested system. Law schools are an extremely profitable business. They don't have the kind of costs that a medical or dental school would, such as clinics and cadavers. All they have to do is pay for faculty, and the students go through their three years of book work and are then thrown out to pass the bar and find a job.

My favorite legal blog, Above the Law, is constantly questioning the law school business. They are upset about the new tier system. Here is their take:
"Speaking of things that shouldn’t matter to prospective law students (who have something resembling a brain), let’s talk a little about U.S. News’s ridiculous decision to relabel what they consider to be the 50 or so worst law schools in the country by their own methodology as the “second tier.” What in the world is going on there? What does that say about the state of legal education? Instead of making their schools better, it seems the administrators of these f.k.a. “fourth tier” institutions lobbied U.S. News for a name change — and won?"

I don't know why I complain. I may go to a thoroughly Tier 1 school, but my job chances are still NILL unless I go to a T14 school, a school that has been in the top 14. (Think Harvard, Columbia, etc.) Thanks a lot, economy.

I'm Famous

2011-03-08T09:03:00.005-07:00

. . . Sort of.

But I was on the front page of the Sunday Deseret News a couple of weeks ago! As many of you faithful readers know, I am doing an internship with the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center, and we investigate prisoners who have a claim of innocence. In a couple of weeks, I will be traveling to Nevada to do some intense research and interview some key witnesses from the case that I am working on. It is exciting but I am a little bit nervous.

Anyway, our center is litigating a case here in Utah, and it went on trial a few weeks ago. It garnered a lot of media attention, hence the news story that I was in. This case is groundbreaking, because it is the first case to be litigated under a new Utah statute allowing post-conviction exoneration based solely on circumstantial evidence, and not DNA. (Most exonerations that have gotten media attention in the past have been a result of DNA testing.) If the judge finds Deb Brown to be innocent in this case, it will set a great precedent for our program, since not all cases are lucky enough to have DNA involved. Of course, it could go the other way too, and make it more difficult for innocent inmates in the future. We are crossing our fingers.

Click here to read the article... Under the picture of her with her three kids, it says "see all 7 photos." I'm in there. If you don't want to look at the article, here is the picture. Right on the front page of the Sunday paper! My family is split as to whether I look bored or determined. I was going for "very concerned," but I think I ended up looking a little bit bored.

The next week, the Deseret News ran another article, this time just about we students. You can read it to find out more about what I do in my internship. This time, you can only see my hair in a picture of my professor.

Yesterday, a couple more witnesses came forward on Deb's behalf after they had seen the media coverage. It is very interesting. Unfortunately, the State was able to bring in their own witness to impeach Deb's witness's testimony, but hopefully it still impacted the judge. Click here to read about it.

New Hobby

2011-03-02T17:35:00.005-07:00

I would love to begin a new hobby. Pick up something new, polish up an old skill. . . . Right now, my only "hobby" is homework, my internship, and TV when my brain can't handle any more. I like school, and I like the law, but I really wish I could make some time for something "me" without feeling guilty.

Things I would like to do if I had the time:
1. Polish my piano skills. I have a lovely digital piano in my living room and I sit down to it when I can and when I'm stressed. However, I am talking about taking the time to really brush up my skills. I wish I could take lessons again and run through scales daily to re-strengthen my fingers and muscle memory. It is very frustrating to sit down and play an old song I used to have perfected and find that my fingers fumble a little bit.

2. Write fiction again. I used to write fiction and poetry all the time, and I've even written an entire novel. Sometimes, now, I sit down to draft a short story, but I feel like my mind is all dried up. I don't know what law school has done to me, but I do know that my creative juices just don't flow like they used to. Hopefully after I graduate from law school and take the bar, I'll want to take the time and write the next great American novel. But for now, this blog is my only "fun" writing escape.

3. Participate in a play, musical, or choir. Growing up, I took voice lessons for ten years straight and participated in all of my high school choirs and musicals. As soon as I started at BYU, though, I never sang in public or did anything related to it. Once upon a time, I had very strong vocal skills, but I feel them diminishing. High notes don't come to me easily any more. I never realized growing up how important all of those constant vocal exercises were. I guess my vocal chords are like a car waaaaaaaay past its 3,000 mile tune up.

4. Get into kickboxing or martial arts. I used to take a lot of kickboxing classes, which I loved. I was definitely the most "vocal" girl in the group, with all of my angry grunts as I punched and kicked imaginary men. I would also like to try martial arts and learn how to kick some serious butt. Before I started law school, I worked at a program with juvenile delinquents, and I had to take self-defense classes. I quit the job before I was really getting good.

5. Write a blog for widespread consumption. Sometimes I dream that I will find my niche in blogging that will attract thousands of readers. Someday I will actually do this, instead of this lame little blog that I write on when I get bored. Maybe I'll write about politics or sports or being a woman in the church (move over FMH!). Maybe I should just start writing more interesting things on here that people will want to read.

6. Learn a second language. I realize that I missed a huge opportunity to do that last summer in Brazil. I blame it on my mind being fried from my first year of law school. Still, I intend to polish up my old Spanish skills from high school. Knowing Spanish would be a huge asset in my chosen profession. (If I had gone on my mission, I would already know Spanish, but oh well. I can still learn.) Before I begin though, I need to get over my huge aversion to learning languages! (Aka laziness)

7. Travel the world! (I wish.) Places I would like to go in order of preference... Thailand, sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt, Greece, China, Australia, Spain, Romania, Jerusalem... I could go on and on. Maybe someday when I have tons of money and time. (ha)

. . . I should probably also learn to cook.

March!

2011-03-01T07:08:00.002-07:00

March! March! It's March! I LOVE March!

For all the reasons I love March, I will refer you to last year's entry...

There's a couple of things I left out, though.

My mama's birthday on the 28th -

Girl Scout cookies - There's a lady at the law school who peddles Girl Scout cookies for her daughter, and I just may have to purchase...

Oh, March, I welcome you with open arms.

Summa

2011-02-27T08:17:00.003-07:00

Well it looks like we'll be sticking around Salt Lake this summer. I already know how to have a perfect summer in Provo or Pittsburgh, but I'm willing to learn what to do to love my summer days and nights up here, too. One thing I know for sure is that it will be a HOT summer, due to our apartment not having a/c.

I'm very excited for summer. This is fairly unusual for me, but I think I'm so anxious because I felt like I missed last summer. We spent the whole summer in Brazil during their winter. That is not to say it was cold, and we certainly spent a lot of time at the beach, but I missed the ol' Americana nights sitting out by the pool, sipping lemonade, and lighting sparklers.

I feel like this picture encapsulates the joy of a summer evening... (Taken in '09 at a Rasmussen family luau in the backyard, not in Hawaii, unfortunately)

Sports Fandom v. Feminism

2011-02-26T13:20:00.004-07:00

I love sports. I love watching sports, reading about sports, thinking about sports... The only thing I don't like doing is playing sports, but that is just because I am perpetually out of shape and not remotely blessed with any natural athletic ability. Anyway, something else I like is women's issues. Unfortunately, the two often fight against each other. So how do I balance a feminist perspective whilst cheering for sports that don't allow women but do allow womanizers?

The answer: I guess I just don't. There is no balance. I suppose I could learn to care about women's athletics, but here comes the sad truth. Women's sports are boring. Maybe not all of them, but as for my two sports of choice, football and basketball, I can't stand watching more than 50 seconds of women's hoops and I would gauge my eyeballs out before I would sit through a powder puff football game. I appreciate the athleticism it takes for women to play sports, and I'm happy to support legislation like Title IX that ensures that these sports get their funding, but my support does not go as far as watching. I tire of the guilt I feel when I cheer for these male athletes and their rulebooks with policies forbidding women participants.

I write this post as I watch the all-important BYU-SDSU basketball game and worship (idol-worship?) Jimmer Fredette. I cheer for the Steelers and their quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and I even wear his jersey. I abhor sexual crimes against women and therefore cringe at the sight of Big Ben the Man. But Big Ben the Athlete? Big fan! I am horrified by the knowledge that if one of the Pitt basketball starters got accused of domestic violence, my very first response wouldn't be repulsion at the crime but fear about the effect on the team. I watch game after game and sit through beer commercials where the men watch their sports and the scantily-clad women serve them drinks.

The thing I can do for the feminist cause is be a woman worth her salt in sports knowledge. I know the rules, the plays, the teams, the players (beyond Jimmer)... I can carry on a decent sports related conversation in a male crowd. I even converted my husband to sports when we got married, as opposed to the other way around. Why should men own the sports world? While we can't play professional sports, women can still know just as much about it. I love watching female sports reporters and shake my fist at ESPN when the women are relegated to practically worthless roles on the sideline while the men commentate on the real stuff. As much as feminism needs women who speak out against the anti-woman sports world, feminism also needs knowledgeable female sports fans. Professional male sports are not likely to lose their position as the number one cultural unifier in America any time soon, and women need to even the playing field from the spectator vantage point.

So with 4:38 left in this game, COME ON BOYS, COME ON!!

You Said It

2011-02-23T10:02:00.001-07:00

"If you have nothing to say, say nothing."
-Mark Twain

January Celebratin'

2011-02-01T20:23:00.008-07:00

Celebratin' our good friends Mary and Gabe as they took the plunge...

Celebratin' yet another upcoming Steelers Super Bowl...

Celebratin' my grandpa's 80th birthday...

Celebratin' my awesome sister-in-law's engagement...

Celebratin' the birth of my awesome new nephew...

Celebratin' continued aunthood with my hilarious niece...

Celebratin' the Jazz when they win...sometimes...

Celebratin' Derrick's 25th birthday!

We are GOING

2011-01-24T12:40:00.002-07:00

Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl!!!!!!!! Photo taken yesterday right after the Steelers won the AFC Championship.

Life's Good

2011-01-13T20:43:00.006-07:00

First and foremost, I am happy to announce that I am an aunt AGAIN! I now have a niece AND a nephew! My awesome sister-in-law gave birth to a 10 lb., 1 oz. baby boy this afternoon. (When my baby niece was born, she was 9 lb., 6 oz. Me and all my siblings were hefty. I guess it runs in the family.) He's adorable, and I love him already!

Christmas break was lovely, and coming back to school was not nearly as painful as I thought it would be. I love all of my classes this semester, and today I got asked to do some legal (paid!) research for the DOE. Plus, I'm breaking some ground with my innocence project case.

Today I got to attend a Condoleezza Rice forum at BYU, and since my dad is a Wheatley Institute fellow (the organization that invited her), we got to sit on the second row on the floor and then attend a luncheon with her afterwards. It was awesome, and her speech was terrific. She and I differ a bit politically, but I have admired her for many years. What a truly outstanding woman.

Since I've learned that people really like seeing pictures on my rambling blog posts, here's a couple from Christmas.

The last photo is my sister-in-law and brother-in-law displaying the presents Derrick and I gave them for Christmas. We bought that cute little shirt in Brazil for the baby so long ago and have been holding onto it since. As for the BYU blanket, I MADE that. I am so proud, because I have not sewn anything since eighth grade home ec class, when we had to make a gym bag to pass middle school. You can't tell in the picture, but I sewed on a ribbon edge and everything. Here's to hoping it doesn't fall apart! (Unlike my gym bag. May it rest in pieces.)

One final thing... My older brother googled himself the other day, and found a newspaper article that we had done an interview for during Christmas break, 2008. It had a picture on it, so I have a picture of an event from so long ago! It was kind of cool. If you're interested in reading the article, you can find it here.

Obligatory Post

2010-12-30T11:09:00.015-07:00

Ten Things about 20-Ten!

1. I completed two full law semesters. Now, as of the end of December 2010, I am halfway done with law school! It feels good to be in the second half. Happy Hump Day to me!
(Words of wisdom - never type "hump day" into Google Images, even when you're innocently looking for an image for your blog. Yes, yes, I know, it should have been obvious.)

2. I turned 23. Actually, it's not that big of a deal. I remember when I was a kid and I would ask one of my parents how old they were. They would have to think for a minute before they answered. I couldn't believe that. If anyone asked me how old I was, I could say "SEVEN" immediately, complete with flashing seven fingers. Now every birthday doesn't seem that cool. What's the difference between 22 and 23 and 24? I have to think before I say my age. Anyway, I digress...

3. Derrick and I got to live in Brazil for the summer, which was pretty awesome. We had the opportunity to work airline internships, which allowed us to fly around and sightsee. (If you would like to see more photos, either look up to the huge picture of me at the top of the screen or visit any blog post from June through August.)

4. Derrick and I celebrated our two year anniversary in August. This is the only picture I have of the occasion, when we were sitting in our car eating McFlurries and the wind knocked over a wooden wall, almost hitting our car. It was momentous.

5. Trips to the Oregon Coast (Derrick's family) and Disneyland (my family).

6. I learned to love to ski! I finally learned to ski and Derrick and I got in as much as we could during the winter. Hooray for the returning season! I even taught my older brother to ski (as seen in photo below).

7. Derrick and I finally moved out of Provo. Not a huge move - just up to Salt Lake City - but after five years of living in Provo, it felt like a big change. We still come down to Provo often, though, because my parents live there now.

8. My little brother Christian did his only "complete" year on his mission in Thailand. He gets to come home next December! I got to call him on Christmas Eve, which was, as he would say, great amounts of fun. On Christmas, he got to be Santa at a branch activity.

9. I got to be the most content aunt in the world. I have an awesome niece who turned two recently, and I even got to live with her for a few weeks when my brother and his wife moved into my parents' house. Also, Derrick's sister got pregnant this year and is due to have her little boy ANY DAY NOW, which will mean that within the next couple of weeks, I will have both a niece and a nephew. What more could someone want??

10. I got to spend plenty of quality time with both my family and Derrick's family. We were able to live with both sets of parents at different times, which is always fun. We have awesome parents who let us intrude. At the risk of sounding sentimental, being with family and friends was the best part of 2010. (I'm not going to lie, though. Checking the Amazon off my bucket list came pretty close.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Getting there...

2010-12-15T21:12:00.009-07:00

I have my last "final final" tomorrow, an atrociously horrible final that my brain can't handle right now. Then right after that I need to write a long take home final, basically a research paper. Not too bad, but every ounce of my motivation has been sucked dry. Today one of my law school buddy's facebook status said "You haven't had finals until you're in grad school. Love, my dead soul." That's how I feel. No offense to you undergrads, but man, I don't know how good I had it then. (I try to remember how stressed I got then, too.) I remember going into finals thinking, "Oh no, this test is worth 30% of my grade!" Now every test is every bit of my grade. A whole semester of reading and reading, thousands of pages, and it all comes down to a couple of tests and the horrendous curve.

Dear Mom,
I'm sorry I keep whining to you about finals via text message. I just like when you respond. And thanks for stopping by last night and dropping off Eat n Park cookies, fresh from your trip to Pittsburgh. They were delicious. I have not had a Smiley cookie for a very long time. I'm afraid to admit that they're already gone. I can't help it if my thought process is always like this...

Here are some awesome self portraits of myself at this very moment as I painstakingly try to memorize every stage and every exception of criminal procedure.

My photobooth skills are wicked awesome.

P.S. This is my one hundredth post on this blog, which I've had for two and a half years. Go me.

Help?

2010-12-13T21:43:00.002-07:00

Somebody please reassure me that going to law school is doing something with my life?

Another Reason

2010-12-06T13:34:00.005-07:00

I have so many reasons to be proud to be a Pittsburgher. Last night provided me with another one. The Steelers' hard-fought win against the Ravens! (A game that easily knocked ten years off of my life.) The Steelers are now squarely in the lead of the AFC North!

Big Ben played with a ton of heart and strength despite playing with a broken foot and getting his nose broken in one of the first plays. The blood splattered down his uniform was the perfect picture of the rough, mean Steelers-Ravens rivalry.

My man Troy Polamalu was the last-minute game changer, as usual. His blindsiding Joe Flacco and forcing a fumble was key to our game-winning touchdown.

Derrick and I occasionally listen to our local hip hop station here in SLC. (I know, we're so hard.) Every once in a while they play a song where the hook is "black and yellow, black and yellow." We always joke that it's the Steelers' fight song. But this morning, Derrick made the discovery that it is! The rapper is from Pittsburgh, and the whole music video takes place there! The ganstas are all waving Terrible Towels and wearing Pirates baseball caps because they, for once, actually like the Pirates! I had to share this music video with all of my Pittsburgh buddies (even though I'm sure this is already big in Pittsburgh. I'm a little behind, thanks to my being in Utah).

Gift of Giving

2010-12-03T19:55:00.003-07:00

I was put in charge of our annual law school's food drive this year and I'm happy to announce that we almost raised our very lofty goal of 400 pounds of food (we gathered 393 pounds). If I had known we would be that close, I would have thrown some other stuff in, but I'm still excited! I'm appreciative of my faculty's and fellow students' generosity, even though our project was a bit last minute (my fault) and overshadowed by an even bigger service project the school is putting on.

Here's to holiday giving!

Finals

2010-12-03T14:57:00.003-07:00

Finals.
Need I say more?

Revolting, I know.

B.S. in B.S.

2010-11-30T20:11:00.003-07:00

I would just like to announce to all of the NAYSAYERS that I am back to my pre-Brazil weight. (Ok, so there weren't actually any naysayers, unless you count me in pre-shower mode. TMI?) How did I do it, you ask? Simple. Absolutely nothing! The same way I've maintained my weight for years. I don't exercise or eat right. Walking home from school gets me so winded that the little hill up to our front door seems like the last mile in a marathon. (Not that I'd have any idea about that.)

So why am I down twenty pounds from a couple of months ago? Simple. Even though I'm not "dieting," per se, I am no longer eating entire tubes of cookies for a between breakfast and lunch snack, eating our host mom's chocolate cake dripping with sweetened condensed milk... Actually, I'm not going to go into too much detail of what a nasty glutton I was. Basically, I liked food in Brazil. It was two and a half months of indulgence but I'm back!

I really need to exercise. Derrick and I have access to a fabulous gym right next to the law school and our ward puts on daily aerobics classes in the church like a hundred feet from our house. Often, Derrick gears up and heads to the gym or for a run, and I stay home to study Criminal Procedure (watch Law and Order).

I also need to eat better. I recently read an article that warned us from eating anything with an ingredient that we can't pronounce. My solution was to learn how to pronounce every chemical.

Sometimes I remind myself that my Bachelor's degree is in public health. I got a B.S. in B.S. (for me anyway). I think that's why I went to law school. I couldn't tell the public to exercise when I only go to the gym when I know they're playing a Steelers game that I don't get in my house.

I'm going to die young. And yes, I am definitely the first person who has ever made the connection of Bachelor of Science to, well, you know.

More HP Love

2010-11-22T12:58:00.003-07:00

Saw the movie a few days ago. Loved it. Cried many, many times. Bring on number 8.

Conquering Evil

2010-11-17T15:16:00.006-07:00

Today I would like to bring up a matter of controversy in the Derrick/Lindsay home and ask for your opinions.

Would you consider Voldemort the Darth Vader of our generation?

Obviously, Darth Vader is still an iconic villain and always will be, but consider Voldemort. He's all evil, he is the main antagonist of seven phenomenally best-selling books and seven-soon-to-be-eight blockbuster films, and he has no good anywhere in any of his spliced souls. Even Darth Vader had some good deep down!

Or you could take Derrick's approach, that Voldemort doesn't have the same presence in the films as Darth Vader, and therefore can't claim the same level of villain-ry.

What do you think? Keep in mind Voldemort's outward scariness as opposed to a stupid black helmet. (Admittedly a helmet capable of blowing up entire planets.)

Harry Star Potter Wars

2010-11-12T16:17:00.005-07:00

Let me start this by saying that I love Harry Potter and am SO excited to see the new movie coming out on Friday. I just enjoyed this little ditty that I found online...

Oh epic film world with your ever-present congruencies!

What Drives Me

2010-11-11T17:34:00.007-07:00

As many of you know, I am working hard on a case for the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center, a subsidiary of the national Innocence Project. I have been assigned to a case where a man is claiming actual innocence of a murder, and I spend a lot of time researching the case and trying to find ways we can reopen it in court and (hopefully) prove his innocence and get him out of prison.

I cannot imagine what it would be like to sit in prison for a crime I did not commit, but there are many people who have done so and are doing so now. Some facts... (Taken from the Innocence Project's website.)

False Confessions

In about 25% of DNA exoneration cases, innocent defendants made incriminating statements, delivered outright confessions or pled guilty.

These cases show that confessions are not always prompted by internal knowledge or actual guilt, but are sometimes motivated by external influences.

Eyewitness Misidentification

Eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, playing a role in more than 75% of convictions overturned through DNA testing.
Unvalidated or Improper Forensic Science

Since the late 1980s, DNA analysis has helped identify the guilty and exonerate the innocent nationwide. While DNA testing was developed through extensive scientific research at top academic centers, many other forensic techniques – such as hair microscopy, bite mark comparisons, firearm tool mark analysis and shoe print comparisons – have never been subjected to rigorous scientific evaluation. Meanwhile, forensics techniques that have been properly validated – such as serology, commonly known as blood typing – are sometimes improperly conducted or inaccurately conveyed in trial testimony. In some cases, forensic analysts have fabricated results or engaged in other misconduct.

All of these problems constitute unvalidated or improper forensic science, which is the second-greatest contributor to wrongful convictions that have been overturned with DNA testing. In more than 50% of DNA exonerations, unvalidated or improper forensic science contributed to the wrongful conviction.

Government Misconduct

Some wrongful convictions are caused by honest mistakes. In some cases, however, officials take steps to ensure that a defendant is convicted despite weak evidence or even clear proof of innocence.

The cases of wrongful convictions uncovered by DNA testing are replete with evidence of fraud or misconduct by prosecutors or police departments.

Informants / Snitches

In more than 15% of cases of wrongful conviction overturned by DNA testing, an informant or jailhouse snitch testified against the defendant. Often, statements from people with incentives to testify – particularly incentives that are not disclosed to the jury – are the central evidence in convicting an innocent person.

Bad Lawyering

A review of convictions overturned by DNA testing reveals a trail of sleeping, drunk, incompetent and overburdened defense attorneys, at the trial level and on appeal. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. Innocent defendants are convicted or plead guilty in this country with less than adequate defense representation. In the some of the worst cases, lawyers have:
• slept in the courtroom during trial
• been disbarred shortly after finishing a death penalty case
• failed to investigate alibis
• failed to call or consult experts on forensic issues
• failed to show up for hearings

Go to Disneyland Not Law School

2010-11-08T15:02:00.003-07:00

I so wish I could be back in Disneyland right now...

(Pictures from my family's trip over Fall Break a couple of weeks ago)

The Future of Pizza Ordering

2010-11-01T20:54:00.002-06:00

Last Friday night, Derrick and I stayed in for the night for our date. We decided to order pizza and watch a few "Treehouse of Horror" episodes of the Simpsons, from the many seasons we have.

We picked Domino's for our pizza, one because we had a coupon, and two because we were interested to see what their "new," improved pizza tasted like. We've been thoroughly intrigued by their recent ad campaign, where they admitted that nobody liked their old pizza and they have reinvented themselves. I think it is an interesting approach to advertising - knock yourself down to build yourself up.

I got online to order the pizza. I was so entranced by the interactive-ness of ordering on Dominos.com. I got to design my pizza, and the picture changed accordingly. Then, after I completed my order, came the COOLEST part of all. They asked me to pick a theme to track my pizza. I picked the "romantic" theme, which looked the cover of a Harlequin novel, and then I watched as it showed the progress of my pizza to the sound of ocean waves. The tracker told me that James was preparing my pizza at that very moment.

I watched as the blinking light changed from preparing to baking to quality check to DONE. I drove and picked up my pizza, where I got to meet James himself. I thanked him for his prompt service and dedication to my pizza. Online pizza tracking is probably the greatest technological invention since the printing press.

Someday, I imagine I will tell my grandchildren about the first time I was able to track my pizza online. I imagine their little faces when they say, "Oh Grandma, you're so old!" And then I will tell them that it only showed James's name with a little blinking light to show his progress, not an HD video of the pizza from a live streaming camera inside of the oven. And they will be amazed at how primitive it all was in my day.

This, my friends, is the future.

DISCLAIMER: I was not paid by Domino's to spark all of your interest and make you all want to order a Domino's pizza online. To prove this, I will tell you that the "new" and improved Domino's pizza wasn't the best pizza ever. I had to warm up to it a bit, but of course that didn't stop me from promptly eating my half.

Halloweens

2010-10-28T08:29:00.007-06:00

I love Halloween. I think that it's mostly that I adore candy more than any other man-made substance. Unfortunately, this Halloween my intake has been low, since I'm trying to shed that Brazil weight. (It's going down!!)

Here is a little survey of some of my favorite Halloweens, in backwards chronology:

2010 - Halloween fest at Disneyland with my family! I don't have pictures because they're on my sister's camera in Provo, but I'll get them! I loved the all of the cute pumpkin decorations.

2009 - I was living with my parents and my little brother Christian was about to go on his mission. It was also my baby niece's first birthday. A couple weeks before Halloween, to celebrate my brother's birthday, my family had an awesome murder mystery party. (See more pictures here.)

Then on Halloween, we celebrated my niece's birthday and I dressed up as a mean Jedi. (All I had to do was raid Christian's closet. I was bound to find something.) You can catch a glimpse of me behind my niece.

2008 - On Halloween day, I became an aunt for the first time! (Shout out to Tawna, who's about to make me an aunt again, this time to a nephew!!) My baby niece was born, and I was there to witness it. (Right before I literally passed out. My poor brother was torn between being excited about his brand new baby daughter and his little sister out cold.) That afternoon, I brought Derrick to meet her at the hospital, and then we went out to dinner and to a late night outdoor showing of Sweeney Todd performed by a few of my brother's theater friends. It was the perfect Halloween show.

2007 - The perfect "single-in-Provo" Halloween. My friends and I all dressed up and went to four different parties around Provo, stopping for a while and then hitting a new one. And yes, the Hollywood house was included, but not for long. I dressed up as the collected works of Edgar Allan Poe. (I'm a big fan.)

2004 - Halloween night was the first game that then-rookie Ben Roethlisberger was truly tested, against the undefeated and defending champs Patriots. The Steelers knocked them out of the water! I was practically jumping up and down the entire game, and I kept getting annoyed by the trick-or-treaters coming to the door. Didn't they realize what was going on? (This year, the Steelers will be on Sunday Night football on Halloween, playing the Saints in New Orleans. Let's hope I can have a happy Halloween in 2010...)

Every other year - Totally awesome nights of trick-or-treating, dressing up, classroom Halloween parties, my Mom making us take pictures together in front of the fireplace before we could go out and fill our pillowcases...

I love Halloween.

My Place

2010-10-22T02:29:00.004-06:00

This is my place.

(As always, excuse my wretched photography.)

Our apartment here in SLC is so tiny that Derrick and I practically bump into each other any time we move at the same time, but I have this one wall that feels like my very own. It's a special place where school doesn't matter. It's a special place where I can lose myself without paying any money. My poor digital piano has been a bit neglected for the past year and a half, since I haven't been able to stay away from my parents' grand piano, but now it's just me and my special piano. That piano was Derrick's gift to me on our first Christmas together while married.

I've been playing piano for as long as I can remember, and I feel so lucky that I have the ability to get lost in the music, to get so into the playing of a song that my mind is literally swept clear of any distractions until the music stops. It is my release; it is my passion. Sometimes I get envious of girls who are so cute and artistic. They can paint, put together cute outfits, decorate,and I simply cannot find interest in any of those things. I forget that I am artistic, too.

I wish I could find a little money every week for lessons (I know, like I'm not busy enough already). I feel like I've let some of my skills get rusty in the past few years, and I want to progress. I guess I'll just have to wait a couple more years and practice as much as I can in the meantime.

I love my place. And I'm going to insert a little confession on my part. I usually pride myself on my lack of interest in expensive things. I don't care about having a nice house, nice car, expensive decorations, etc., so is too covetous and materialistic for me to hope that someday, my place will look like this??

Sadness plus Excitement

2010-10-11T07:27:00.010-06:00

Happy birthday to my little brother Christian! He turns 20 on Wednesday, but we won't get to celebrate with him because he is serving an LDS mission in Thailand.

Christian (or "Tschijanne" as I call him - you'd have to ask me how to pronounce that) is my best, best, best, best, best friend ever (and Derrick. Yes, Ashley, and you). I miss him terribly all the time. On November 18, it will be his one year mark, but he's not getting back until December of 2011.

Every week, when I send him a letter, I include a couple of comics I find on the Internet, usually about Star Wars, a shared interest of ours. If only I could send him Youtube videos...alas. I have a long list of videos that I can't wait to show him when he returns.

To celebrate Christian's birthday, I'm going to DISNEYLAND this week! On Wednesday, Christian's birthday, my family and I will start out our journey by stopping for the night in Vegas, and then on Thursday we're hitting the beach, and then Friday it's DISNEYLAND, and then Saturday I'm going to my friend Allison's wedding in San Diego. I'm very excited, even though Derrick isn't going. He's staying here in Salt Lake to get some work done, and I'm going with my mom, my dad, and my little sister Amanda.

We're not actually going for Christian's birthday. That would be cruel. It's Amanda's and my fall break. What about my homework, you say? It's almost done! I've worked myself into the ground the past couple of days to get ready for this. We're talking waking up at 4 or 5 AM every morning and working through the day. I will work right up til Wednesday at about three, when we'll take off. I am going to take my internship file with me, though, and get a few hours in our hotel rooms. I have a case that I am investigating for the Innocence Project. It keeps me up at night, thinking about all of the facts and thinking through everyone's testimonies, the evidence, etc. etc. It's stressful to work on an extremely detailed and difficult case knowing that someone who is potentially innocent is sitting in prison every day, relying on me to get them out. My supervising attorneys can't file for any petitions for innocence unless I find important evidence.

This weekend will be fun. I know! It's so cliche for a girl to get excited about Disneyland, but I just can't help it! Here's a great example of the gobs of pictures Amanda and I will take this weekend. We like taking pictures together...

Fall Happenings

2010-09-12T16:18:00.008-06:00

I love the fall. It is my favorite season, when the leaves start changing and school and football begin. I love all of the string of holidays and the nights as they begin to get chillier.

It's not quite "fall" yet, but here are a couple of pics from the last little bit.

Ahhhhh. I loooove football. I've already been to three games this year. I got to cheer on my hometown team Pitt when they came to play Utah. We lost in overtime, but I still had a great time with the fam in the Pittsburgh section. Then the next day I went to watch BYU beat Washington (we won't talk about the Air Force game yesterday). Then on Friday night, Derrick and I didn't have anything planned, so we went to my little sister's high school Timpview's Homecoming game. Besides attending those games, I have watched so many more. (Steelers won their opener today! But barely. I'm counting down until Big Ben returns.) Fall semester is always so tough...

Here's my cute little sister all done up for her Homecoming dance, waiting for her date to pick her up. I helped pick out the dress, shoes, accessories, and did her nails, hair, and make-up. I think I did a good job.

Derrick and I don't move to SLC for a couple more weeks, so I get to enjoy my baby niece a little longer. Here she is feeding her baby Pooh stuffed animal one of those cool toy bottles that re-fills.

(And a sip for Brookie, too.)

Law school, you ask? What about it? Just kidding. It's going fine. I would just much rather write about the things above than my classes and homework.

Love for Melanie

2010-09-03T09:08:00.004-06:00

Hey everyone!

I'm asking for help. Last year, when my family moved out to Utah after almost 20 years of living in Pittsburgh, we were welcomed in this wonderful cul de sac. One of the families that was key to making my family feel loved and at home was the Kau family. They have been so good to us. The parents have been great friends to my parents (and even Derrick and I!), and their daughter was an instant best friend to my poor little sister, who left all of her friends in Pittsburgh in the middle of high school.

At the beginning of this summer, the mom, Melanie, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. It has been hard for all of us, but such a trial for this great family and their four kids (ages 11-19). You can read about their experiences here. Melanie was an avid runner before her diagnosis. I would see her coming back from a run every single day when I left for school at 7 AM, no matter the season.

We are having a fundraiser 5K for her on September 25. Please come!! I'll probably be walking a lot of it, since I am the worst runner ever. (I ran this morning and was ready to die after like a half mile.) So matter what your skills are, you should come participate in this worthy cause.

Registration fee and t-shirt: $15
Helping a family in need and getting exercise on the side: PRICELESS

If would like to participate, you can follow the instructions on the flyer, or you can let me know, either by comment or email (lindcita@gmail.com) with your t-shirt size, and I will get you registered. (Just pay me back later.)

Thanks!

Back by Popular Demand

2010-09-01T20:56:00.005-06:00

My ramblings!

Oh, that makes me feel so cool. Even an ANONYMOUS person commented on my last post and said they wanted me to keep going. It makes me feel so much better about stalking random people's blogs. It's the golden rule, right? (Of course, I'm going to find out that the commenter was actually my mom or something and forgot to include her name.)

My mind is jumbly so I'm going to list a bunch of jumbles... (I love lists, if you haven't noticed.)

1. I have come to the conclusion after many years of sleeping in, dawdling, and all-around perpetual lateness that you just can't look cool running in a backpack.

2. Derrick and I just celebrated our second anniversary. (Thank you, thank you.) We got McFlurry's the night before the anniversary, which unluckily fell on a Sunday. Highlight of the night was when the wind blew down an entire fence in front of our car while we sat and ate our McFlurry's. It just missed our car. Then on Sunday (the big day), we spent the day making an exciting drive from Boise to Montpelier, Idaho, location of Derrick's grandmother. Think of a town lamer than the one in Napoleon Dynamite. We did make a stop on the way to have a picnic, but we got immediately embarrassed when some we're-so-cool base jumpers showed up and hung around. (To give you an idea, we were in church clothes and I had put a tablecloth and flower on the table. We ate quickly and bounced.)

3. Last week my doctor was sure that I needed an appendectomy, but it turned out that I just needed a CT scan to tell me that I haven't taken a proper dump in like a month. (Thank you Brazil.) I know you are disgusted by this, but I feel justified in sharing because it seems like every day I read some girlfriend's blog about their placenta hanging out.

4. I'm trying hard to lose the ~20 pounds I put on in Brazil. Well, not too hard. I guess I haven't exercised yet, but I'm not eating like ten cookies a day, which is an improvement over Brazil.

5. I really need to get up and move my whites to the dryer. They've been in there for a while.

6. Tomorrow night Pitt is coming to play against Utah in football. This is an event I have been waiting for since moving to Utah...when Pitt travels out here! I have tickets and my Pitt clothes and flag all ready. PITTTTTT!!

7. I'm a 2L suckas!

...

2010-08-30T14:11:00.003-06:00

Now that we're back in Utah, back in school...I really have nothing to say. But here's a pic from our trip to the Oregon Coast with Derrick's family a couple of weeks ago. This should buy me some time.

Plus, I'm really not sure what to call the blog, since I really haven't decided if it's still just mine or both of ours. I wish I was cute or artsy or something to make this look aesthetically pleasing and fun to read. I'm just a babbler who hates taking pictures.

Last Stop - Rio

2010-08-12T06:40:00.007-06:00

After we went to Manaus, we made one last stop in Rio. We spent a little time in Derrick's mission and later hit a couple of spots in downtown Rio that evaded us the first time we went - Cristo Redentor and Parme.

Hanging out in beautiful Petropolis -

Derrick's area -

Derrick's apartment:

Cristo Redentor (Christ Redeemer) -
It is so hard to get a good picture, with the combination of large crowds and the enormity of the statue, but we tried. We also had an overcast sky against us, but we tried and tried and came out with a couple of okay ones. I'll have to find a Photoshop savvy friend to lighten these up a bit. Christmas card!

PARME
We finally made it!! Parme is a pizza rodizio, where they bring all sorts of pizzas to your table, both meal and dessert kinds. Highlights were the fettucine alfredo pizza (not just alfredo sauce...actual fettucine alfredo on the pizza) and brownie calzones. It was so delicious that I am making it my life ambition to open one in the States. I ate so much that our hotel concierge that night asked my due date. (No, he didn't. But I wouldn't have blamed him one bit.)

Manaus (The Amazon)

2010-08-11T09:40:00.013-06:00

I have been excited for this trip since we first decided that we were going to go to Brazil for the summer. We had the opportunity to stay here for three days and enjoy the awesome rainforest adventures they provided. (Don't worry - we did NOT pay those prices. It literally pays to work for a travel agency with all the sweet hook-ups.) It was so cool!

Taking the long boat ride to our lodge. The whole time I kept poking Derrick and saying, "Do you realize we're on the Amazon River?!"

Pictures from around the cool jungle lodge

Piranha Fishing

I caught five piranhas, but I was terrified of each one when I pulled it out of the water. They were trashing around, holding the bait in their tiny sharp teeth.

We used cow hearts as bait. So gross.

Derrick was the only one (besides our guide) to catch anything besides a piranha. He said it tasted the best. (We ate all of the fish for dinner. Not too bad.)

Rainforest Hike

Visiting a Native Dwelling

Nighttime Caiman Spotting - Everyone knows that alligators are my greatest fear, so I was a little bit nervous for this excursion. We went out on a boat and our guide shined a spotlight into the water until he saw a pair of eyes. The light temporarily blinded the caiman and then our guide dove right into the water and came up holding the caiman. I gasped out loud even though I knew what was going to happen and we had been instructed to be quiet. That takes guts!

I will conclude this extremely long post (sorry!) with a picture that will live in Derrick-Lindsay Rasmussen family infamy. Our lodge constantly had these adorable monkeys hanging out all over. One day, when Derrick and I were out on a walk, we watched a bunch of them playing for a while. Then one jumped on Derrick. He freaked out and asked me to get it off, but I thought it was adorable and a great photo-op...so I snapped a picture... Then the monkey bit Derrick on the neck. Oops. I felt horrible, but luckily it wasn't a bad bite (I knocked him off before he could really break the skin) and the lodge nurse told us it would be okay. Derrick is going to hold this against for me for as long as we live.

Odds n Ends

2010-08-05T05:19:00.004-06:00

1. We're going home in one week from today. Our flight takes off for the States on Thursday, August 12 at 9:30 PM, and Derrick and I are both ready for it. In the meantime, though, we're going to go on one last whirlwind trip. We're leaving tonight for a jungle trek through the Amazon, and then we're going back to Rio for a couple more days to visit areas of Derrick's mission that we haven't gotten to yet. Then we're wrapping up at work and flying home! I'm anxious to get home and try to work off the 10+ pounds I've put on since we got here. Ugh.

2. Derrick and I were exposed to the cost of living well in Sao Paulo when we housesat for an American Azul employee last week. Azul is located in a city called Alphaville, which is specifically designed to be as "American" as possible. They do a fairly good job, and the house we lived in felt homey and familiar (other than the absence of carpet and the swarms of mosquitos indoors). But to live like that, it is extremely expensive. The other day, another American employee was ranting at work. He said, "Sao Paulo is one the most expensive cities in America, more even than New York, etc. And what do I get out of living here?!" And he even said this to the Brazilians, who nodded in agreement. The family whose house we stayed in has to bring things like dryer sheets and baking powder down from the States whenever they visit home.

3. As I've mentioned before, there is no peanut butter in Brazil. But my amazing sister-in-law mailed me some a few days ago, and it was an extremely welcome treat. I'm going to be a peanut butter pig when I get home. (The jar lasted me and Derrick about a day and a half. So wonderful.) I got the package at work, and raved about the treat to some of my co-workers. I gave tastes, and the Brazilians were not particularly impressed. Acquired taste, perhaps? We wouldn't know, having grown up with it.

4. My Portuguese is worthless, so stop asking everyone. I know, I know, it was an opportunity lost. Oh, well.

5. Here is Derrick waving from his little cubicle before his co-workers came in for the morning.

6. Here is the enormous Alphaville ward building. I couldn't even fit it all into the picture. You can see it from all over.

7. Here in Brazil, McDonald's has dessert kiosks. We are frequent customers.

8. You better know how much you'll need before you go into the stall. (Don't worry, this isn't common. I had to take a picture of this one, though.)

9. You've got to hand it to Brazilians. They do have a national sports craze, and they are able to maintain that obsession all year long, without any change in the sport seasons. Always soccer, all the time. Nothing else. Wow, I'm bored just thinking about it. I like my yearly rotation...football...basketball...hockey...baseball... Here is an Air Soccer table that we saw in a toy store.

Paulista Coast

2010-07-26T06:21:00.006-06:00

Derrick and I are currently housesitting for an American employee of Azul while he visits family in the States. This weekend, we took advantage of having his car and decided to see São Paulo and the Paulista Coast. The beaches were a little underwhelming after being in both Rio and Porto de Galinhas this summer, but they were still pretty and we had a good time. One of my favorite parts of the trip was the drive, though. To get to the coast, you have to drive through a national park in the mountains that is perpetually foggy. It was like a scene in Lord of the Rings as we drove through the thick mist up and down the foresty mountains. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of that, but enjoy these ones from the beach.

Derrick braving crazy São Paulo roads and traffic. At one point we got completely stopped in traffic on a stretch of road in a bad part of town. We threw our ipod and GPS into the glove compartment.

Brazilian churros from street vendors are the best! They stuff them with chocolate or caramel and put sprinkles on.

This lady ruined my pretty fishermen picture.

Curitiba

2010-07-23T07:23:00.007-06:00

We spent a little bit of time in Curitiba last week around our trip to Iguaçu, which is a really cool city, albeit quite cold. We didn't do a whole lot there, but we got a taste of the neat city.

Curitiba is well known for its public transportation system and city planning. The city bus runs along a middle lane, similar to trax or a metro system. It was extremely efficient and cheap, and it was a great way to get around and see the cool city.

Curitiba had a lot of cool architecture, a lot of it very old and European. This is an old train station that was converted into a shopping mall, where we had lunch.

WE FOUND IT!!! (We didn't eat there, though. We felt like we would only be setting ourselves up for disappointment.)

Just because I loved this.

I particularly loved the alleyways throughout the city. They were kind of like hidden treasures. A street would look normal until you poked your head around the corner and saw a beautiful, European cobblestone street.

I love the beautiful Catholic churches all over Brazil.

Iguaçu Falls

2010-07-22T08:58:00.013-06:00

When my dad took me to Brazil in 2004, a highlight of my trip was getting to see Iguaçu Falls. I really wanted to share that with Derrick, but unfortunately, Azul doesn't fly there, so no free flights. I was still determined to get there, so Derrick and I flew to Curitiba on Friday night (free Azul flight), and then took an overnight bus ride to Iguaçu. It wasn't the comfiest hotel room, but it was okay. We spent the day in cold and rainy Iguaçu enjoying the falls but getting soaked in the process. Please excuse my disgusting appearance in these photos and remember that I hadn't showered, had spent the night before sleeping on a bus, and was standing in the rain all day. Probably not pictures for our fridge, but I did my best to take a lot and post a few of them here. After we finished with the Falls, we took a overnight bus back to Curitiba and spent Sunday there. I'll post a few pictures from that later.

No picture can adequately capture the absolute wonder of Iguaçu Falls. The Falls stretch on and on through the rainforest. It is truly the work of a Master. I, of course, am nooooot the photographer for the job, so I will first post a couple of pictures I found on the Internet. Then you can sift through the work of my wretched photography skills. Enjoy!

(The Devil's Throat...Iguaçu's answer to Niagra. Unfortunately, we didn't a good look because we were on the Brazilian side and also because the rain made the mist so thick you couldn't see through.)

(This bridge extended way out over the falls, where you could walk out and feel and see the pressure. The mist was so powerful that I couldn't take out my camera to take any pictures, which was a shame, because the view from the bridge is unbelievable. It was the highlight of my day.)

(I love the little quatis that run wild all over Iguaçu. They scavenge like little raccoons. I think they are so cute!)

(Derrick is all geared up for his treetop ropes course. I had to wear a helmet as safety protocol. You know, in case someone fell on me.)

(Derrick also did a zip line and this cool challenge where he climbed up a thirty foot pole and jumped off and grabbed onto a trapeze thing - while strapped to a belayer of course, but still, in his words, terrifying. I have videos of both, but unfortunately, not nearly enough bandwidth to post them.)

(A couple pictures right before we left the park. Gives you an idea of how rainy and misty it was.)

Overall, it was a tiring and wet but FUN trip!

Tender Mercy

2010-07-19T06:56:00.003-06:00

Derrick and I just got back from a whirlwind weekend in Curitiba and Iguaçu Falls, which I will blog about soon. (I actually took some pictures! I look nasty in all of them, though.) But before I upload my pictures and write an awesome-as-always travel log, I have to talk about a tender mercy Derrick and I experienced last night.

Last night, Derrick and I had a long voyage from Curitiba back to our apartment. We took a bus in Curitiba to the airport, then our flight got delayed, then we took our flight, then we had to wait a long time for a bus to take us into São Paulo, then we had to take two subway trains to our community bus station where we sat forever waiting for a bus to our apartment... When our bus finally came, it was 11 PM. We were tired and anxious to sleep in a bed for the first time since Thursday night. When we boarded the bus, Derrick realized his wallet was not in his pocket. We searched everywhere, and it was definitely gone.

We could have lost it anywhere. Any of the buses we took, the subway station, the subways, the bus station, the airplane... It was terrifying. However, someone on our bus noticed us frantically searching our pockets and bags, and she stood up and asked Derrick what he was looking for. Turns out she had noticed the wallet on the ground of the subway station and turned it in to lost and found. She described it as a "black wallet with foreign identification." (Clearly Derrick's. I didn't see a lot of other foreigners at the Barueri bus station at 11 PM on a Sunday night.) Derrick raced to lost and found which had already closed, but he was able to get it this morning, and the only thing missing from it was some cash, a R$20 bill (about 10 USD), which is not so bad considering that there were two credit cards inside.

We feel incredibly lucky that there was an honest woman who found the wallet and just so happened to be on our bus to tell us about it. We're lucky that all of the bus station workers were honest enough to hold it for Derrick and return it. (Obviously, someone along the way was cash-dishonest, but luckily not credit card-dishonest. I can stand to lose ten bucks.) It was a great tender mercy.

Undocumented

2010-07-15T08:05:00.004-06:00

I am a terrible picture taker. I don't really like taking pictures or being in pictures. Derrick doesn't like taking pictures or being in pictures. Therefore, not many pictures get taken. I generally hope that I happen to be with people who really like pictures, and then I just steal from blogs and Facebook later. Derrick and I went to Disneyland with his family last summer for an entire week, and I think I took like three pictures.

I know that a lot of people get more pictures out of a two day trip to Moab than we have gotten out of the last six weeks of living and traveling in Brazil. One of our weekend trips will end and I will realize I took about 12 pictures, a few of them re-dos. This must change. I'm missing a lot of opportunities to document this trip. I have my USB cord with me, and therefore unlimited opportunities for pictures. I have no excuse for my lack of picture taking. I promise that my next post will make me the photographer of the century.

This is my goal.

I need to change my thought process from "hey, that's really cool and pretty" to "hey, that's really cool and pretty, so maaaaybe I should take a picture of it."

A brief interruption

2010-07-12T09:23:00.000-06:00

Hi, this is Derrick, posting on what is nominally "our" blog but definitely more Lindsay's baby than my own. I'm posting because I honestly have noting to do at work today. Unfortunately, anything worth posting has already been posted by Lindsay, as she's really done a wonderful job documenting our travels and travails for the last month or so (albeit with pictures that make me look unfortunately gigantic). I'll just post a few details that Lindsay missed:

1. Our company is located right off the banks of the Tietê River (I believe), one of a few rivers that run through most of São Paulo. You can read more about it here. Don't let the decent-looking photos fool you: it is, without a doubt, the most disgusting body of water I have ever seen or (more importantly) smelt in my life. The smell varies from day to day, but on the worst days, it's a dead-ringer for raw sewage. It's kind of bizarre, really: São Paulo certainly has its problems with poverty, favelas, urban maintenance, etc. but much of it is better than you would think (especially much of Barueri), making the presence of what is essentially a murky, poopy river in the middle of it kind of odd.

2. I don't get a lot of assignments from the legal department, and those I do are kind of remedial. They have, however, loaned me a bunch of their textbooks from Brazilian law school (a 5-year undergrad degree that requires you to work part time during your studies, which frankly sounds to me like a better system than the one we have back home). Anyways, in order to produce something tangible from spending weeks of reading concepts in Portuguese (concerning subjects I don't totally get in English), I produced this. I can now say that I have written a Wikipedia article, which is either really cool or really nerdy, depending on your perspective. I have contributed to the bulk sum of English-based knowledge (not really).

3. In addition to the well-documented sunburns I suffered this last week (pictures will NOT be provided, sorry, I don't think anybody wants to see my shoulders looking like they've had Frosted Flakes super-glued to them), I've also had some dehydration problems (my own fault, I wasn't drinking) and stomach cramping problems (my body apparently doesn't like it when I follow 5 days of rarely eating with 23 ounces of solid meat). Honestly, this morning was the first morning in which I woke up feeling TOTALLY HEALTHY, which is a really good feeling.

Holiday Weekend In

2010-07-11T03:28:00.010-06:00

This weekend we had Friday off for yet another holiday. (They really like days off here.) Though it provided a great travel opportunity for us, Derrick was still recovering from his bad sunburn and didn't want to travel. We decided to have a fun weekend "in" (that is, around São Paulo).

On Friday morning, I was able to complete a project I've been working on for a couple of weeks, making chocolate chip cookies. It took me that long to track down all of the ingredients, in particular vanilla and brown sugar. I still had to chop up a chocolate bar to make chocolate chips, though. I didn't have a recipe or any internet to look it up, so I winged it based on any memories I had of good ol' Nestle Tollhouse. They actually turned out pretty well. It felt so good to eat a warm, chewy chocolate chip cookie (and, of course, the dough).

We went out to a famous mall in Alphaville called Shopping Tamboré, which is distinctly American. I know culture is great, and I really enjoy being immersed in Brazilian culture, particularly in the neighborhood we live in, but sometimes it feels nice to spend some time in an American setting. Tamboré did not disappoint. Also, across the street from the mall, there was a Wal-Mart Supercenter and Sam's Club. In the States, you never think of Wal-Mart as "swanky" or "classy," but here, it is the classy de facto. We went in and walked through every aisle. Seriously. I wish I could say I'm kidding. Every time we saw a row we had missed, we ran to it and walked through, admiring the cleanliness and neatness. We kept laughing at how silly we felt, but neither of us felt any desire to desist. We were, however, disappointed in the lack of free samples in Sam's Club.

Even though we spent all of Friday in stores and bought absolutely nothing except a Subway sandwich, we had a great time. On Saturday, we decided to venture into the city a little and attend the temple. After a water tank fiasco where my shower turned off after I had only shampooed my hair and Derrick had to sneak into our host family's outdoor shower, we packed our bags and ventured out. I felt a bit like one of those Ensign stories about South Americans who have to travel long distances to get their family sealed, since each way to the temple required two buses and two trains. (Insert mega eye roll from said person who had to travel on twenty buses and ten trains over seven days to get to the temple.) Still, it was a fun little adventure. We're getting really good at navigating the public transportation system.

I love the temple grounds here in São Paulo. I remember coming with my dad in 2007, but this was of course the first time I got to go inside. We did a session, and I got to wear a little set of headphones for English. Here's a couple of pictures. The first was taken before the session and the second after, hence the lighting difference.

The temple was nearby another large São Paulo mall called Shopping El Dorado. Since we were there, we decided to walk through. It was a lot of fun, with cool things to see.

(Me in front of a giant World Cup soccer ball.)

(Derrick in front of the world's biggest Tic Tac box, filled with real Tic Tacs. We were able to buy our own little box of the same flavor in a dispenser behind it.)

In El Dorado, there was a pizza rodizio very similar to one we tried so hard to find in Rio. We couldn't miss the opportunity for tons of dinner and dessert pizzas, we so partook. It was delicious. How could it not be? They combined a few of my favorite things...all-you-can-eat, pizza, dessert... They had to put me in a wheelbarrow and push me out afterwards, as well as take my picture and ban me from the chain forevermore. (Just kidding. I didn't eat THAT much.)

(There are three different kinds of dessert pizzas on my plate. Heaven...)

Now it's Sunday, and Derrick and I are fasting since we skipped out on Fast Sunday last week. This may be hard, because the World Cup is on today, and our host mom is known to make great treats during game time... We'll see how I hold up. Until next time, all!

Our Own Fourth of July

2010-07-09T05:06:00.003-06:00

We tried...

(And this wasn't actually even July Fourth. We just pretended.)

Happy Birthday America!

Just Let Me Whine

2010-07-07T05:58:00.005-06:00

A Few American Comforts I Miss:

Dryers - I don't mind the task of hanging laundry out to dry, but I do miss the quickness of having a dryer. I miss running out of clothes and then within a couple of hours having a bunch more. Here, you have to plan days in advance for running out of clothes or packing for a trip. Plus, it is difficult to do multiple loads of laundry because you run out of room on the hanging racks very quickly.

Good Laundry Soap - In order to get the slightest lather in your laundry water, you have to dump and dump their cheap laudry soap flakes. You only get a few loads out of every box. I'm sure there is better quality available somewhere, but not in our neighborhood. Plus, a lot of our darks end up with little soap scum marks (maybe a result of my over-dumping. I just need the comfort of seeing a few bubbles).

Hot Bathroom Sink Water - All of their bathroom sinks here expel cold water. I never realized how much I appreciated that blast of warm water, plus the assurance it brings that the warmth is helping to kill germs. (The same goes for washing dishes in cold water. We're so paranoid in the States that washing dishes causes hand blisters.)

Being Able to Flush Toilet Paper - This one is self-explanatory.

Just Turning on an Oven - In our little gas oven, you have to turn on the gas, and then reach into the oven with a match and let the flames explode under you to pre-heat the oven. I am always scared that the flames are going to really blow up this time and destroy my hand. This has not happened yet, but I do have a lot of hand burns.

Being Able to Drink Tap Water - But I have become a pro at using the least amount of store bought water possible when I brush my teeth. (I probably don't even need to do this. I've brushed my teeth in their tap water on a couple of occasions, and I'm still alive. I have a hard time believing that I have a worm, because I'm looking a little heftier these days. Heeeey, wait a minute... Excuse me while I run and gulp down some unfiltered water.)

Peanut Butter - I never realized how much I take peanut butter for granted. At home, when I open a cupboard, I just reach for the jar. It is always magically there. Here, the peanut butter is hard to find, and it sucks anyway. Also, while I'm on the subject, a couple weeks ago, I made a recipe that called for chocolate chips, and I had to buy a chocolate bar and chop it into tiny pieces. Such effort!

Getting Google News in English - Actually, just English in general.

I feel bad about this list, but I just wanted to complain. Maybe my next entry should be a bunch of things I LIKE about Brazil, so that everyone knows that I'm not miserable at all. I've just learned to appreciate some of the little things about America.

Porto de Galinhas (Recife)

2010-07-06T02:59:00.011-06:00

Last Friday (July 2) was a Brazil World Cup game, so we decided to take advantage of the time off work and take an early flight to Recife to visit the fabulous (or so we had heard) resort town Porto de Galinhas. Our flight was right during the game, so we got updates over the speaker. When Brazil lost, everyone groaned.

(I love that Brazil still does flights on the tarmac.)

Once we arrived in Recife, we caught a city bus to Porto de Galinhas, which took about two hours, but it was cheap (about R$ 6 per ticket) and cool to see the city as we drove. Something that I thought was cool was that everyone was still having their crazy soccer street parties. I guess a loss doesn't deter a Brazilian from partying! Once in Porto de Galinhas, we had to hike to our resort, which was a couple of miles down the beach. It was hot, and our backpacks felt pretty heavy, but who wants to pay for a taxi? The beaches in Porto de Galinhas are so beautiful. They're not beautiful in the Caribbean sense, with white sand and clear water. Instead, the sand is darker, and the ocean is strikingly green. I love it.

(Making the long hike down the beach.)

Our hotel was awesome. It was serene and right on the beach, and the landscaping was very well done. The best part, though, was that even though I had ordered the cheapest room, they accidentally gave us the luxory room and kept the price. We had a balcony and a hammock where you could lie and listen to the birds chirping and the ocean waves. I spent hours in that hammock over the weekend.

On Saturday, we decided to take a beach buggy tour around the area to make sure that we saw all of the cool beaches. Our hotel suggested that we should have our tour in a taxi, because there was a small chance of rain, and we were like, "um, we'll risk it." It was a good choice. The buggy was really fun, and we got to ride along on the bumpy sand. It didn't even rain.

(A beautiful beach road we rode along.)

One of my favorite stops on the tour was Muro Alto, a cool beach where a large natural rock bridge separates a natural swimming pool from the waves. It was great ocean swimming! A lot of vendors tried to sell us little boat trips out to the bridge, but we just made the long swim and climbed right up instead.

We made another cool stop on our tour in a bay area, where we did a little boat ride and got to see seahorses in the wild. It was a fun trip, but while we were out on that boat, the equator UV rays were roasting our skin. I don't have any pictures of us, since I was scared my camera would get wet, but here's a couple from online.

(A cool seahorse root right outside of the reserve. It even has an eye.)

(We took a boat just like this.)

(They actually scoop live seahorses right out of the ocean into a jar and hand it to you. I don't think anyone could get away with that in the States.)

We finished our tour and took advantage of the nice quiet beach outside of our hotel, plus the free chairs and umbrellas they provide. Here Derrick is under the shade of the umbrella after the sun had already gone down. (The irony being that the one time we were actually protected from the sun's rays didn't even matter.)

We went into town for some great seafood, and we were not disappointed. Derrick insisted that I take a picture of his meal, because we thought it was so cool how they arranged the little shrimp. (The empty lime is the one that I consumed in about one swallow. The shrimp was in an orange-lime sauce that I will try to replicate someday.) I got a delicious shrimp and broccoli spaghetti.

By this point, our sunburn started to show up, and Derrick started showing signs of dehydration and heat exhaustion. (We weren't taking the best care of ourselves.) On Sunday, we bought some aloe vera, took some Advil, and headed home. Other than the burn, it was a super fun weekend.

Attack from the Equator!

2010-07-05T05:47:00.004-06:00

We are back at work after our weekend in paradise...Porto de Galinhas. We had a great time, and I will post pictures soon, but we had one negative outcome from the trip that hurts even as I sit here and type.

Ohhhhh we got burned! We were right under the equator sun with no sunscreen. (Yes, Mom, I know you bought me some and sent it along. But we weren't thinking and bought the aerosol, which you can't carry onto planes. Then we forgot to buy some once we got on vacation. There are a million "we should haves" that we've already thought about, but what's done is done.)

It's really not too bad, since we only did one day at the beach, but it still hurts. After all my years of careful avoidance of a single tanning bed and enduring my bleach white skin year after year, I have now been exposed to the world's most potent UV rays. Oh, well. If we ever get skin cancer, I'll just blame it on Utah's altitude.

The worst part about getting burned? Looking like stupid gringos. Blasted Scandanavian skin!

Copa do Mundo LOUCURA

2010-07-01T06:02:00.008-06:00

As someone who grew up in the heart of white America (upper-middle class Pittsburgh suburb Cranberry Township), I have never cared much for soccer. I adore football, basketball, and baseball, but I find it difficult to sit through a game where people kick a ball up and down a field and an entire game can go by without a single point ever being scored.

Then I decided to spend a summer in Brazil during the 2010 World Cup (Copa do Mundo). Obviously, I knew that everywhere else in the world, people really get into soccer. I'm no dummy. I've followed the World Cup before. But I had no idea just HOW loco this place gets when it's game time.

Nobody works during game time. Seriously. A couple of weeks ago, Brazil played in their first game during the group stage. The game was scheduled to begin at 3:30 PM, and at about 1, everyone in my office started packing up and then just left. I decided to join in on this laziness and left as well. The streets were already filled with people honking, yelling, blowing those darn vuvuzelas (curse those), and waving flags. There was green and yellow everywhere, all over the streets and the closed up businesses. You cannot go to the bank during game time. You can't do anything. Everything just shuts down. I was raised in Pittsburgh, where the city revolves around the Steelers, but I have never seen such MADNESS over games before.

During the game, there is constant noise and merry-making. Whenever Brazil scores a goal, it is deafening. Fireworks, noisemakers, and again, those blasted vuvuzelas. (I've read a few things on ESPN where American sportswriters complain that they are annoyed by vuvuzelas coming from their TV screen. Some people just don't realize how good they have it.) When the game ends, you would think we have entered into nuclear war. The party noise goes all through the afternoon and late into the night. It's usually still going when we wake up the next morning for work.

I feel good about Brazil so far this year. We flew through the group stage without much problem, and on Monday, we smashed Ghana 3-0. Tomorrow, we are playing the Netherlands, a good team, so fingers crossed! Derrick and I won't be watching because we will be flying to Recife, to spend the weekend at the resort town Porto de Galinhas, consistently rated the number one beach in Brazil. We're be flying all through the game, which will hopefully help us secure our stand-by seats. (See? We think ahead.) Our only concern? That the pilots won't be paying attention to our flight. Auto pilot can only do so much.

Until next time, where I will hopefully have great pictures from our weekend! (I'm nervous to be seen in a bathing suit, though. Brazilian food is just too good. Even Derrick admits I've put on a few.)

GO BRAZIL!!

(Kaká - the star - is on the left. Mmmmmmmmmm)

P.S. Happy Anniversary to my parents today!! 27 years and they're still kicking it like rock stars!

Some Brazilian Cookin'

2010-06-30T05:49:00.007-06:00

As most of you know, I am the world's worst and most impatient cook.

I can cook a meal or cookies adequately, but I've never bothered to learn the ins and outs of real cooking, like how to properly dice vegetables or press garlic, and I don't have the slightest clue what basil is used for. My mom's friends threw me a bridal shower, where instead of gifts, they all gave me a bottle of spice and a corresponding recipe. Most of these remain sadly unopened.

Brazilian women are incredibly good cooks and are so resourceful. They learn from a young age to just throw various things into a pot and produce a delicious meal. My Brazilian host mom Helena can't believe my lack of cooking skills (a womanly failure). Sometimes she asks me to help her with something (like dicing an onion), and I do such a painfully bad job that she usually just takes it right back from me and gives me a rag to dry dishes.

Well, I won't be worthless anymore! Helena is teaching me to cook. I have already learned a lot from her. Tonight she is teaching me how to make real, homemade pão de queijo (cheese bread). Not the little bumps of stale bread you get at Tucano's, but real, juicy, warm melt-in-your-mouth cheese bread. Yum! I'm keeping a little notebook full of tips and recipes that I am learning from her.

The other day I made our host family some good ol' fashioned American banana bread. It actually turned out well, which made me happy since I don't have any of my cooking tools (measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowls, whisks, electric beaters, etc. etc.). Helena liked it, but she taught me to make her banana cake, which was so delicious. I'll put the recipe here. Sorry that I don't have exact measurements. They don't really measure here. They just throw everything in until it feels and tastes right. I do that with my cooking here and GUESS WHAT? It still turns out without my scraping the top of my measuring cups with a knife. Maybe that's always been my problem.

BOLO DE BANANAS HELENA (Helena's Banana Cake)

Crust-
Mix together five heaping spponfuls of butter/margarine, 2 c. sugar, and then some flour and milk until the consistency is kind of like cake or brownie batter. Pour into baking pan (she used about a 9x13, which made a lot and used a lot of bananas. You could shrink the recipe down and use fewer bananas).

Topping-
You will need a lot of bananas. Slice bananas into long strips (but not too thin)from top to bottom and place them on the crust until the entire crust is covered. Mix cinnamon and sugar (definite emphasis on the cinnamon) and make a layer on top of the bananas.

Bake until the top is crispy and the crust is cooked. Serve warm. (It would probably be delicious with vanilla ice cream.)

Happy Brazilian Cookin'!

Weekend in Rio

2010-06-24T03:16:00.017-06:00

RIO

Our first "weekend trip" was to Rio de Janeiro. We made the decision to go last Wednesday and filled out some paperwork to get our free flights. On Friday afternoon, we caught a free bus from our office all the way to the airport in Campinas, about an hour away. (It's a great service the company offers.) Once there, we faced the nerve-wracking task of obtaining stand-by seating. We were told by the airport officials we probably wouldn't get on the flight, but we did, and we even got to sit next to each other.

Flying over Rio at night was a spectacular display. Now, Derrick and I have both been to Rio already. Derrick served his mission there, and I traveled there with my dad when I was seventeen. But neither of us had even flown over the city at night, and Derrick had never even seen the city at night. We flew by the beautiful lit up Christ statue and could see Maracana stadium (the biggest in South America and once the biggest in the world). When I came to Rio in '04, my dad and I had gone up to the statue at night to see the city, and Derrick had only seen it at daytime, so our first task was to go up to the statue. We got a taxi and he drove us there. Once there, we learned that the statue closed at 5 PM (it was about seven). I was embarrassed and bummed out, so we just had him take us to our hotel. Lame.

On the way, we passed a restaurant Derrick wanted to take me to, which was one of the major deciding factors for going to Rio first. It is called Parmê, and it is a pizza rodizio (like Tucano's, but all sorts of pizzas, including dessert pizzas). We've both been wanting it for ages. But we had eaten a lot that day and decided to save it for the next day.

We checked into our hotel in Copacabana, and headed out to enjoy the neighborhood for the night. We ate at a Brazilian style Chuck-a-Rama (Derrick's description, and I think it works), but we did not pig out, as we were paying by weight. Then we did something completely American. We got McFlurrys at McDonald's and then saw Toy Story 3. IN MY DEFENSE of spending a night in Rio at the movie theater, we don't have a lot of options for movie going where we live, and it is tough to find movies in English with only Portuguese subtitles. (Gotta keep Tom Hanks and Tim Allen in tact.) Here was a theater right by our hotel showing it in 3-D in English. Anyway, the movie was darling and I loved it. I was nervous based on the trailer, but it rocked!

The next morning we went to Copacabana beach. We went before we had to check out of our hotel so that we wouldn't have to bring our stuff. I kept laughing at Derrick's first impression of a Rio beach, having never seen one before (obviously strict mission rules). He said, "wait, wait, where are all the beautiful women? I don't see any! All I see are ugly, fat, old women!" We kept joking that he should call his mission president and be like, "hey we totally could have gone to beach." The beach was so wonderful. I could have stayed there all day, but we had to carry on.

(There is Sugar Loaf behind Derrick in this picture.)

We packed up in our backpacks and took a bus to Pão de Açûcar (Sugar Loaf mountain), a tourist destination where you go to the peaks of two mountains using cable cars. The view is spectacular. I had done this with my dad, but Derrick had never done it since it was expensive for a missionary and he had heard from other missionaries that it "wasn't that cool." We went anyway. It cost an arm and a leg of course, but it was really fun and we had a great time.

By this point we were starving, and our time for Parmê had come. We didn't know where to go, so we had a taxi take us to the nearest one. It turned out it had closed. The taxi driver thought he knew of another one, so he drove us there. It was real! We were so excited. Once inside, though, we learned they don't start rodizio until 6 PM (it was about 2). Bitterly disappointed, we settled for a couple slices of pepperoni from the express line. We promised each other we would go back the next day when we got back from Petrópolis, an area we were headed to that afternoon about an hour outside of Rio. (Derrick spent the first six months of his mission there.)

We took a bus to the special bus station where we would catch an express bus to Petrópolis. On the long but comfy bus ride to Petrópolis, Derrick kept telling me about what it was like to have been on that bus four years before, when we was sent to his first area. He had just come out of the Brazilian MTC, and the mission president met him in Rio and put him on "this very bus, on this very route" to Petrópolis. Once in the city, Derrick got extremely excited and reminiscent. (This was the excitement I had been waiting for. In Rio, I kept saying, "isn't it cool that you're back?!" And he'd be like, "yeah, I guess." Now I realize why. He had never actually served in the city. He definitely got excited about where he actually served.) He kept pointing things out, like, "I've bought a suit there," or "they make the best cookies," etc. etc. Petrópolis was a beautiful, European style city. (And it's called "the Imperial City," like Star Wars!) I was in love with the mountainous landscape and neat architecture. Sorry I don't have more pictures. I'm so bad at thinking to take pictures. To see some awesome pictures, click here.

(A beautiful Catholic cathedral that my camera's night setting did NOT do justice to whatsoever.)

Later that night, we decided we better start making our way to our pousada (bed and breakfast). We looked at the map I brought and realized that I had mistakenly selected one way out of the way in the mountains. It was troublesome, but we made our way there (and safely). We checked in and crashed. When we woke up finally with some light, I could see the pousada and its location. It was stunningly beautiful. The whole place was vintage stone, situated up on a mountain side with miles and miles of beautiful foresty mountain surrounding it. If only I could have spent a whole peaceful weekend there! But alas, we got dressed for church, packed up our backpacks, and checked out.

Derrick wanted to go to the ward he had spent so long in. To get there, we had a bus drop us off at a random spot that Derrick pointed, and then we had to walk all the way down the side of a mountain to get into his area, and then we walked through it to get to church. Derrick wouldn't let me take the time to snap any pictures, which I'm still bitter about, because we even passed by his old apartment. He kept saying, "we'll come back, we'll come back." But I thought, "we're already here! Give me five seconds to take a picture." But we were running late for church, so we had to make some hasty haste. Since I have no pictures, I will replace them with this picture of Derrick in the area on his mission.

(Sorry about the awkward layout. My internet here is so bad it's hard to change anything.)

Derrick had a great time in church. Everyone there recognized him and talked to him. Even though she wasn't there, he found out that one of the women he taught is still active. He was disappointed, though, to learn that the other area that he spent a ton of time in had been completely shut down for missionary work because it had gotten so bad. The bishop's family invited us over for lunch, which we would have loved, but we really needed to make our way back to Rio, since Brazil was playing in the World Cup at 3:30, and as anyone who has spent any time in Brazil knows, NOTHING functions during game time. I was worried we'd miss a bus back into Rio and then be stranded.

We made it back to Rio in time and checked into our hotel just minutes before the game started. We watched the game (Brazil looked awesome and won easily), and throughout the whole game, we were starving and excited for Parmê later that evening. After the game, we allowed some time for businesses to open back up, and then ventured out to walk to Parmê, only a few blocks away. When we started walking, we realized that nothing was going to open again. Seriously. I have never seen a city so huge look so dead. Everything was shut up, and there was no one on the streets except for a few homeless people. The street that Parmê was on was totally dark. Disappointed again (and terrified for our lives as there was no one to protect us and we looked mighty conspicuous), we hurried back to our hotel and had to settle for a couple of snacks from a BP across the street, the only thing we could find open. Oh, Parmê, the elusive one! We'll get you next time we go! We spent the night eating our treats and watching a "So You Think You Can Dance" marathon, the only English thing on TV.

The next morning we flew back and got our free bus right back to our office for our work week. It had been a great weekend.

PS to everyone: Follow the US in soccer! It's the first time we've ended the group stage as #1 in our group since 1930! Go USA!

A First Glimpse

2010-06-22T15:36:00.006-06:00

BRAZIL!

Hi everyone! Derrick and I arrived in Brazil on June 5th. We have been working for an airline company called Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras. I spend most of my time in the corporate department helping with a venture project called Azul Viagens, which does travel packages. I do a lot of spreadsheets, updating every day with every seat upgrade sold, every package bought, etc. etc. Derrick spends his time in the legal department, where I help out from time to time. The people in legal have given him a lot of reading material to learn about Brazilian law, and so far his tasks have been to review contracts and impending litigation. I think he enjoys the litigation. (You can imagine the many tort claims an airline would get against them.)

We live in an apartment adjacent to the home of one of Azul's drivers, Roberto, and his family. They are extremely nice to us and have welcomed us into their family. They are members of the Church and always tell us how great it is that they can serve us. (And they do. In fact, in a couple of minutes, we're headed to their kitchen for some dinner and cake.) No one in the family speaks English, so that is tough for all of us, and Derrick does a lot of translating. Sometimes I try new sentences on them, and everyone cheers for me.

Brazilians have a really hard time with the name "Lindsay." I have to repeat it to everyone about ten times, and then they try to repeat it back ... "Leeeeenzee." One afternoon at work, all of the people in my office kept practicing it and correcting each other. "Leeeence." "Leeenzee." "Leeeeeenttsee." Then when they see it in writing, any progress they made is immediately gone. I wonder if I should just start writing it in a more phonetically correct way.

A great benefit of working for an airline is that they fly us around for free. Derrick and I spent the last few days in Rio de Janeiro, where he served his mission. My next post will be about that. We have plans to see other places, like Recife, Fortaleza, Brasilia, and Manaus (the Amazon).

Here is Derrick sitting in our bedroom in our apartment. Yes, that is a teddy bear. He traveled all the way to Brazil with us. Wow, we need kids.

Here is us with our host parents at a churrascaria. The whole shindig for all four of us was R$ 110, about 60 USD. Take that Tucano's! (They're not frowning because they're unhappy. It's just not the custom to smile in pictures.)

I Should Have Known Better

2010-06-22T09:46:00.002-06:00

Hi everyone. Sorry for the delay in posts. We have been in Brazil for two and a half weeks and are having a good time. Soon I will post pictures and updates, but for right now, I want to bid farewell to someone who died this morning. Someone very important to me.

My Chi straightener, Hugo.

This morning I held Hugo and plugged him into the wall. My hair was ugly from a fast hair dry and needed Hugo's warmth to smooth it out. When I plugged him in, the little red light sputtered and then died. I re-plugged Hugo in and pressed his reset button with all of the hope in my heart. Holding my breath, I clicked the switch to on. This time, no red light even flickered. I ran into the bedroom, into the kitchen, trying every outlet we had. Nothing. Not a flicker, not a sound. Hugo had passed on.

I guess adjusting to Brazil's low voltage system was too much work for poor Hugo. The unreliable unelectricity that I pulsed into his sytem every day must have shocked his poor core and left him ragged and breathing. Today, it was too much.

Forgive me, Hugo, for taking you for granted! I'm sorry I put you into the clutches of these terrible second world electrical circuits! You deserve more than that. You have been my companion since Summer of 2007, when I first held you in my arms after begging my dad to buy you for months. Nearly every day for three years you have given me perfect hair. You have been all over the States, and to two foreign countries. I named you Hugo because of your unmatched strength to fix my worst bedhead when I was too lazy to shower. You will be tough to replace, but mostly because you are so dang expensive. If you must be replaced, though, I would like the hot pink one.

Oh the bad hair days that are stretching before me! I do not think they sell Chi in Brazil. I have two months left before I return to the States and steal my little sister's (Hugo Jr.).

Hello Goodbye

2010-05-29T12:09:00.005-06:00

These are ducks. They are in a row.

Like our summer in Brazil! We finally have all of our ducks in a row after almost three months of hard work to get everything sorted out.

We both have:
-Internships in the legal department of Azul Airlines, Sao Paulo, Brazil!
-Student intern visas in hand (long nightmarish process here), one on my brand new Lindsay Rasmussen passport.
-Plane tickets. We are leaving on Thursday, June 3. So soon!
-Awesome immunity to yellow fever, typhoid, tetanus, and hepatitis (plus a couple of sore arms).
-A place to live! I think it will be a little ghetto, but I'm not picky, and my pocketbook is.
-Cameras, ipods, computers charged.
-Plenty of "professional" clothes for the work week, and my spanking new bathing suit for weekends at the beach!
-Great expectations!

Derrick has:
-Fluency in the Portuguese language.

I have:
-No knowledge of the Portuguese language. Oh boy.

Anyway, hopefully my next post will be from Brazil! I will post pictures and updates, and I know everyone will read faithfully, every day. And I mean that. Farewell!

Across the Universe II

2010-05-24T11:48:00.003-06:00

Good news! Our internship is finally coming together. Our visas should be done next Friday, and we'll be able to fly down in the days after. Our difficult task right now is finding housing. We are interning at Azul Airlines, which has its definite perks (like flying us all over Brazil on weekends at no cost), but it happens to be located in the Beverly Hills of Sao Paulo. Every time I try to find a flat, I end up on one that is $500,000 USD. As tempting as those apartments are, they are not exactly in our price range. The good people at Azul are on the case, so hopefully we'll be able to find some ghetto place where we have at least a ninety percent chance of not being shot. We'll probably have to find a place in an adjacent town, but commuting will be difficult, because I don't think Delta will let me put our Passat in the cargo compartment.

But still. I'm stoked! We are so close! (Shout out to Marjie, who is probably reading this thinking, "Wow, Brazil isn't that big of a deal.") At this point, I'm just doing the last minute preparations, getting vaccinated against things like yellow fever (for our Amazon adventure!), buying anti-diarrheal medicine, praying that Brazil doesn't plummet into some kind of a random civil war, praying that terrorists don't decide to shut down our airlines, praying that the Brazilian Consulate doesn't peek at my Facebook before they process my visa (kidding!), researching all of the cool cities and beaches I want to visit, and oh yeah, taking care of that eensy weensy housing situation.

No worries, Faithful Blog Readers. I'll be updating all summer. I just bought this cute little bendy tripod that fits in your purse, so Derrick and I might actually get some pictures together for once. Stay tuned!

I Am the Walrus

2010-05-11T22:47:00.007-06:00

I know Bono is a great man and does many good things. But sometimes... *snickers all around*

I wonder if that article answered that time honored question..."Can Bono save the world? I'm dying to know!" No, honestly, I have no problem with U2. They are coming to Utah to perform in a couple of weeks and I'm thinking about trying for free tickets by friending the new crappy Utah radio station "The Point" on Facebook and making it my profile picture... I would definitely go, just for the experience.

I am going to recount an awesome (and very true!) experience I had a couple of years ago at BYU. I was sitting in a statistics class working on a group project. My partner and I were making friendly small talk. He asked, "what is your favorite band?"

I have always hated this question, whether at stake dances or first dates or email questionnaires. I don't really have a favorite band or genre, mostly because I'm too lazy to develop any music taste. Derrick thinks my taste in music is juvenile pop, but I call my genre "anything catchy that I can sing to loudly in the car." Anyway, I decided to just give him an answer for the sake of our little conversation.

"I like Coldplay."

He harrumphed, sat back in his chair, and said, "Yeah I thought you would say that. Typical."

I was not hurt or affronted and I let it slide off. I figured I could ask him about whatever super-cool-obscure band he liked, because I am the wife of a man who raised my underground music knowledge from non-existent to the respectable level of a typical Provo poser.

"So what about you?" I asked.

"I like U2."

*P.S. Blog post title in honor of Bono's role in "Across the Universe." Such a talented man.

Crying, Waiting, Hoping

2010-05-02T17:33:00.007-06:00

Another edition of "I Should Be Studying"

Since Derrick is TOTALLY sick of me complaining about our Property final tomorrow, and he doesn't read this blog, I figured I could complain here. I haaaaate Property Law! And the most annoying part (besides the fact that it's closed note - unusual for law school - tests are based on your ability to apply the law, not just "know" the law) is that most of test is pretending that it is common law England in the 1700s. Seriously, what is the point of that? I can't wait until I get a client come into my office someday and say, "I have this property dispute going on." And I say back, "Well I have the perfect solution for you if only it were 1786 in England." I guess it's a good thing I'm going to have to re-learn all of this crap in two years for the Bar Exam.

I just want this test to be over! It is going to be four horrible hours. In 22 hours and 23 minutes it will be OVER OVER OVER! Then I will have three days to prepare for Constitutional Law and then on Friday at noon, I'll be DONE DONE DONE!

I think I should post a cute picture of something Derrick and I have been up to recently to make this post at least 10% worth your time, but we don't take pictures. And we're always studying, so if you want a picture of that excitement, just let me know...

But I will post this picture. If you can appreciate the awesome humor in it, my hat's off to you.

All Things Must Pass II

2010-04-27T14:31:00.002-06:00

My first final of my last semester of my first year of law school is happening in exactly 18 hours. With springtime here, I've kind of hit the wall and want this terrible semester to end. Now.

But the next week and a half will be terrible, with long, long nights and probably tears.

May 7th at noon, can you get here please?

Anyway, here's an update on Brazil. We had a scare in the past couple of weeks trying to obtain the materials needed for our student intern visas. The Brazilian Consulate General is extremely picky about who they let into the country, and they ask for a million materials to even apply. One of those is a letter from your sponsoring organization in Brazil and it has to be notarized in Brazil and mailed all the way up to the States. (No emails or faxes here!) Our letters FINALLY came yesterday, so our process is moving along! We'll know this week if all of the other materials we had to obtain will be good enough for the Consulate.

If all goes according to plans, we will be leaving the States for three months at the beginning of June. But first I have to get through these pesky finals!

Julia

2010-04-21T19:19:00.006-06:00

The other day Derrick called me a "serviceable" cook. I don't really know what to make of that.

Here is Derrick with one of the very few things he thinks I make exceptionally well - apple pie. I take no shortcuts; I even grind the nutmeg myself. (Oh, yeah, I buy refrigerated Pillsbury crusts. But other than that I'm golden.) So THERE. Remember the pie, Derrick?

P.S. The candles are in the ice cream because they kept melting into the hot pie. It made it lovely and colorful, but everyone in the family had some weird aversion to waxy pie, despite its aesthetics.

P.P.S. I would like to defend myself against my little sister's disgusted look in the background. She does not like anything. She is the pickiest eater in the entire universe. So don't judge.

Fixing a Hole

2010-04-21T16:44:00.002-06:00

So Derrick has officially deleted his blog.

Does that mean this has to be a family blog??

A Hard Day's Night

2010-04-17T03:58:00.005-06:00

Another edition of I should be studying (and so you know, it is 3:58 AM).

I'm just going to take a second to tell a little story that still has Derrick laughing, and I am still irked, even as I work on my Constitutional Law outline at this hour.

This is a story of a loss. My loss. And as usual, I'm going to make a short story way too long.

Last night, Derrick and I had to be mock jurors for the 2L mock trial for hours. (Verdict: GUILTY. I got to deliver the verdict to the judge. And forgot to say "Your Honor," which Derrick pointed out as soon as I sat down.) We were hungry after the long day, and I had a twenty dollar bill in my wallet left over from my birthday. As we drove home, we contemplated where we could eat without going a penny over $20 (other than fast food, Panda, etc.). We remembered that Red Robin was doing a special where you can get a full burger/fries meal for $5. Unfortunately, we were on the highway around South Salt Lake and had no idea where to go (waiting all the way til we hit Provo was not an option). Our good friend Google Text (as we are too cheap to use mobile internet) informed us of a location in Murray. I took the Murray exit, but since the address had an actual street name (!!!) instead of coordinates, we drove around desperately searching for "Winchester Street."

INSERT PET PEEVE HERE: Utah coordinates are awesome, once you understand them. You can look at an address and have directions immediately. So why deviate? I can't stand getting an address in Utah which has an actual street. Suddenly, you're completely lost.

Finally, with some help from some lonely workers at a local Arby's, who were disappointed Derrick only came inside to ask for directions, we found Red Robin. Our waiter seemed cool, and he got us waters (no specialty drinks of course).

Almost immediately, we ordered our food. I got the $5 Yum as planned (and as usual, was embarrassed when I had to say, "could I have that cheeseburger with no cheese?" "Really? No cheese?" "I'm serious. No cheese."). Derrick got to splurge with the $7.79 chicken wrap.

Our food came quickly by a girl who was not our waiter. We were starving, so we ate quickly. Our waiter brought me another order of fries. I think he filled up Derrick's water twice. He brought us our bill. I think we were in there for 30 minutes tops.

FINALLY, I get to the point of the story. (I really am a terrible story teller.) Our bill was $15.04 (we're so frugal!). Derrick said, "Do you just want to leave the twenty and go?" I was like, "No! I can still leave him a 20% tip and get two dollars back. It will be enough to get ice cream cones on the way home." I'm not a cheapo when it comes to tips, but he didn't really do anything! We were in there for 30 minutes! It was a Friday night! He'd be fine! And I was willing to give him 20%!

I looked for four pennies in my wallet, but only found two. Derrick offered to go to the car to get more, but I decided to outsmart the waiter. I knew that if he got $20.04, he would just bring back a five dollar bill, and my plan would be ruined. I thought about asking for five ones, but it made me feel cheap. So I thought, "this way, he'll have to give me $4.96 back." I didn't think that he was in the game, too.

When he took our twenty, he said "Do you want change?" I said, "yes," and he looked all disgruntled. Feeling satisfied, I awaited his return. He handed me the change, and I opened up the bill holder thing. There was a five dollar bill. I guess he decided to "donate" 4 cents to my cause. Smart move. Four pennies for a two dollar investment.

I was furious, but Derrick was practically on the floor laughing, and he told me to just leave it. On the way home, every exit we passed seemed to have an Iceberg or Artic Circle. I could have gotten an ice cream cone if I had won the battle of the tip.

I lost.

It is now 4:19 AM. Back to Con Law.

She's a Woman

2010-03-30T10:21:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I went to a special forum at the law school about global gender justice. One of the presenters recently was an speaker at International Women's Day sponsored by BBC. (Click here for her bio - she's pretty awesome.) She told us that she asked a bunch of women two questions.

Question 1 - Do you consider yourself a feminist?

Question 2 - Are you optimistic/pessimistic about your future as a woman in the working world?

She told us that the general answer she got was that women didn't consider themselves feminists and they were quite optimistic about their chances. When she posed the same question to our group, girls mostly said that yes, they were feminists, and yes, they were optimistic. There was only one woman who said that she felt that women had a long way to go before they were equal. Interestingly, she was the only "older" woman who answered.

I used to call myself a feminist, but I think in our young generation, women are scared of the implications associated with that particular word. I certainly feel very strongly about the rights and equality of women, which I believe is the definition of feminism. Unfortunately, we've allowed rhetoric to diminish the value of the feminist mission. It's hard to hear the word "feminist" without implicating negativity.

So my answers:

1. Yes, I would call myself a feminist.

2. Yes, I am optimistic about my future as a working woman (at least in the US). I think we're doing pretty well.

How would you answer?

And Your Bird Can Sing

2010-03-30T09:38:00.002-06:00

CONFESSION: I have been watching American Idol, Season 9. Obsessively. I have only watched one other complete season, which was season 3, featuring winner Fantasia Barrino. But when I found out that this was Simon's last season, and I have the benefit of my parents' DVR to skip through the many commercials, I decided to watch this season.

I am going to weigh in on the top ten contestants, in order of their chances of winning (in my opinion). I feel like I have some room to talk, as a ten year veteran of voice lessons and performing. Feel free to disregard.

1. Crystal Bowersox - I'm thrilled that our generation has its Janis. She's on top week after week. I don't have much to say about her because everyone knows she rocks. Go Mama Sox! (I am so glad that the show has cleaned up her teeth and made her dreads look cool. Well done.)

2. Siobhan Magnus - Siobhan is actually a truly talented singer. She sings in tune with such ease and it is refreshing to see someone who doesn't look like they are struggling to find the right notes and hit the high ones. I wasn't sure if I thought that Siobhan knew how to properly sing high notes due to her screaming, but then I watched a Youtube video of her singing "Poor Wandering One" from Pirates of Penzance, a difficult, high, operatic song I didn't even attempt until college. It was impeccable, and I became a believer. Good for her for being able to turn her operatic, Broadway voice into something cool and marketable. I don't think I could.

3. "Big" Mike Lynche - Love him, love his voice. He's interesting and unique because he is this huge guy, but sounds like an absolute romantic when he sings. I'm not sure if I agree with Simon and Kara that he is too "loungy" or "over the top," because I think it's his niche. Every generation needs its Harry Connick Jr., Frank Sinatra, etc. Ours just happens to be an enormous black ex-football player. So what?

4. Lee Dewyze - I can't say I'm a big fan. I think he's good, and I'm glad that he seems to be getting better with each week, but he's so overdone. We don't need another gravelly voiced rocker, even if he is unique in his ability to stay in tune. Here's a plus - he has pretty eyes.

5. Aaron Kelly - You'd have to have a heart of black not to love this kid. He's so earnest that you can't help but cheer for him. Luckily, he has the talent to back up his adorable "aw shucks" routine. Unfortunately, I think he strains a little too much when he hits high notes; you can see it in his neck. Here's something going for him - he could be the male Taylor Swift: a solo country pop crossover targeted at teenaged girls. Cool Fact -He attends the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, which my little brother is a graduate of. :)

6. Casey James - Mmmm. I have a crush. His rendition of "Heaven" a few weeks ago won me, my mom, and my sister over. I've liked him week after week, and I think he is extraordinarily gifted on his guitar (contrast this to the lame-o strumming coming from some of the other contestants *cough* Tim). I have to say that I agree with Simon a bit - Casey is sometimes just a good cover band. I don't think he has a chance of winning, but I like him.

7. Didi Benami - Stop crying Didi! Stop whining Didi! Stop arguing with the judges Didi! Stop singing Didi! Okay, that last one was harsh. I actually liked her rendition of "You're No Good," which the judges despised. But that was unusual. I think her voice is cool, but she bugs me so much that I just can't support her. I never look forward to her performances. I guess she has a fan base out there somewhere, because she's never in the bottom three.

8. Katie Stevens - I don't like her weird, dark tone. Plus, to quote Kara, "You've got mad pitch issues, girl." You KNOW something is glaring when I agree with Kara. To Katie's credit, she managed to take the weird, back and forth criticism the judges threw at her, and is finally coming into some kind of sphere. But is it enough? I don't think so. She'll be gone soon. Sorry, girl. Aaron's got the teenaged girl vote. That leaves you with no fans.

9. Andrew Garcia - I'm disappointed in Andrew. I like both his voice and personality, but he just doesn't impress me when he steps up to perform. I'm always hoping...hoping...but then I end up bummed out. He's nothing special; his performances are incredibly forgettable. My final thought on Andrew - if I have to hear the judges mention "Straight Up" one more time, I'm going to scratch my eyeballs out.

10. Tim Urban - Remind me why he's still here? Oh yeah. He got into the Top 24 by a stroke of luck when someone got kicked out. And then he never got voted out because he's a cutie. Oh well. Tim's time is running out. Girls like him, but when push comes to shove, he's just not getting the votes. I'll just say the same thing I said about Katie. Sorry, Tim. Aaron's got your demographic in the bag.

11. Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato - Man, they sucked.

Slow Down

2010-03-23T18:23:00.002-06:00

And for your vital news of the day...

March 22, 2010

Heidi Montag has reached the legal limit on breast implants

Posted: 10:37 AM ET

Heidi Montag appeared as a guest on Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" Friday, and although Leno tried to keep the conversation on her career, he couldn't ignore the silicone elephant in the room.

As the conversation inevitably steered towards her recent 10 plastic surgeries, Leno asked if there was anything else she'd change.

Montag - who doesn't think she's addicted to plastic surgery since an addiction "is something you do every day" - said there are still two things she'd augment if the law allowed.

"I would get [my breasts] bigger, but I legally can’t right now," she said. "There's a limit - 800 cc - and I have 700."

For the time being though, Montag said she's reached a stopping point. "I think I'm surgery-ed out," she said.

Montag, who will be in recovery for a year, has been able to use her high-profile procedures to land an acting job without even having to audition. She'll appear in the upcoming comedy, "Just Go With It," starring Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler.

"They just called me and said ‘we’d love to have you,'" she said. "Kevin Nealson [plays] my husband, and he’s had more surgery than I have in the movie, so we kept playing around with who has more injections."

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com

Ain't She Sweet

2010-03-19T04:19:00.003-06:00

It is 4:18 AM and I really should be finishing my big persuasive brief that's due in exactly five hours and forty two minutes for 100% of my grade, but can we just take a second to admire how cute my niece is?

I know, right?

Helter Skelter

2010-03-12T10:01:00.006-07:00

QUESTIONS!

Last summer, Derrick and I had everything under control. We told the University of Utah that we were going to be attending their school, and we got all of our ducks in a row in accordance with the plan, housing, everything. Suddenly, in June, another option sprang up that we could attend the University of Pittsburgh (my home town) on scholarship. We didn't know what to do, and in the end, we settled on our nice, safe plan of staying in Utah.

Now we have comfortable plans to move to Boise for the summer and live with Derrick's parents while we take on our already established internships. But then, as you can read below, Badaboom! We have internships in Brazil! The opportunity came out of nowhere!

We're thrust back into the position we were in last summer. Stay with our safe, original plans, or make a sudden change?? We're only going to be young and childless for so long, so maybe we should just bite the bullet and DO IT.

Major con of Brazil: Expensive.

Major pro of Brazil: Everything else.

What would YOU do?

Across the Universe

2010-03-10T13:40:00.004-07:00

We could be living here this summer -

Sao Paulo, Brazil!

In 2004, I went on a vacation to Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Iguazu Falls and fell in love with the country of Brazil. In 2005, Derrick began his mission in Rio de Janeiro. On our first date, Derrick and I discovered our joint love for Brazil and decided then and there that when we got married, we would live there. (Just kidding! We didn't talk about marriage until our second date! Just kidding again!)

Anyway, when we first started applying to law school, I learned that Brazil has a booming legal market for American attorneys. It got us thinking again about trying to eventually move down there, at least for a while.

My dad teaches executive MBAs in Brazil often, and therefore, he has a lot of connections there. Today he emailed me from Sao Paulo telling me that he had met with the main legal counsel of the Brazilian airline company Azul, and he said that Derrick and I could go down there and intern for him whenever we want! So watch out Brazil, here we come!

(Thanks Daddy!!)

Misery II

2010-03-10T09:36:00.003-07:00

I AM SO OUT OF SHAPE

This morning, Derrick and I had to make a mad dash to catch Trax going up to the law school. We only had a couple of blocks to run (and true, I was carrying a 20 pound backpack while sprinting through the cold, thin, Salt Lake morning air), but after about 100 feet I was huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf. By the time we climbed on Trax and I collapsed into a seat, every inch of me was in pain, I could barely breathe, and I was hacking up my lungs. It's now two hours later and I'm still coughing.

This is so pathetic.

On a happier note, in a week and a half I get the first spring break I've had since high school - and even then we rarely got it due to snow day make-ups - so Derrick and I are hitting the coast! I'm stoked!

You Can't Do That

2010-03-06T10:14:00.004-07:00

Disclaimer: This post is not designed to target anyone, or make fun of any of the things I list.

Things I just can't get into, even when I try (in no particular order):

clothes

fashion

shopping

working out

fashion

make up

decorating

shopping

taking pictures

being in pictures

shopping

fashion

jewelry

jewels

baby headbands

babies

cooking

baking

necklaces

purses

hats

flowers

receiving flowers

shopping

shoes

wearing shoes

crafting

sewing

baby photography

nail polish

painting nails

clothes

fashion

I try and then I always stumble.

I'll Cry Instead

2010-03-03T17:06:00.005-07:00

One more good thing about March:

Girl Scout Cookies!

Today one of the ladies at the law school was selling cookies for her daughter. My mouth salivated as I thought of my favorite - Samoas. She told me the price - $3.50 a box. (Is it just me or are the prices getting higher and the boxes getting smaller?)

Still, I was tempted to buy a box of delicious Samoas. She told me she even had them with her, and I (for once) had cash in my wallet. I debated back and forth whether to purchase the cookies, knowing that I would consume the entire box within the hour. Finally, I couldn't resist any longer. I grabbed my wallet and told her I would buy a box.

She says "Great! I'll go out to my car." I didn't know she would actually have to work to get my cookies. The feelings of needing instant gratification faded as I was given more opportunity to think of the consequences.

1. Gwyndolynn would have to walk out to her car to feed me.

2. I would eat the entire box. Quickly. (Each serving - two cookies - is 150 calories. There are eight servings in a box.)

3. I would be $3.50 poorer. (And I had that cash in the first place to pay my sister-in-law back for something - sorry Darlene! It's coming!)

I passed on the cookies. Good idea or bad idea?

Getting Better

2010-03-01T12:28:00.011-07:00

HAPPY MARCH!

I am so happy that it is March! My favorite season is fall, but March is my favorite month for many reasons.

1. Duh. March Madness! The college basketball lover's paradise. Go Pitt!!

2. Shamrock (shammy) shakes at McDonald's.

3. Reese's Eggs

4. Spring break! (Thank you University of Utah for giving me a whole week this year. BYU, thanks for nothing.)

(Juuuust kidding.)

5. My family's annual trip to Hilton Head Island (but not now that they moved to Utah...sad).

6. Countdown to my birthday (April 1st!).

7. It's the end of winter, but the mountains are still snowy.

8. Baseball season begins (MLB spring training, BYU games begin).

(Another chance for we Pirates fans to say "This is our year" before April and May trample on our childish idealism.)

9. You finally feel like the end of the school year is coming.

10. Did I mention SPRING??

Dig It

2010-02-23T10:02:00.004-07:00

On the US freaking rocking the Olympics -

"When Canadian border officials asked what we were bringing into the country, we conveniently forgot to mention the Costco-size pallet of industrial-strength whoop-A we had in the trunk." - Jim Caple, ESPN.com

Well said.

Sorry, Canada.

I Just Don't Understand II

2010-02-21T14:42:00.003-07:00

Okay, one quick comment and I SWEAR I'm going right back to writing my legal brief (which, by the way, is not brief at all - well, what I have so far is brief, but it won't be when I finally crack down and finish it).

This is a little bit outdated, but Derrick and I always mention how weird it is in the song "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz (a hugely overplayed song in my opinion), Jason says "It's our Godforsaken right to be loved."

That doesn't make any sense. I wonder if he meant "God-given." I just marvel that that line passed by so many editors, record producers, etc., and nobody picked up on that. You would think that at least one person, maybe the caterer at the studio, would have said, "You know, that doesn't really make a lot of sense. Are you sure "Godforsaken" was the word you were looking for there?"

On the other hand, maybe Jason really does think that the right to be loved is "desolate; remote; deserted; wretched; pitiable; neglected" (Webster's Dictionary definition). If that really is the case, that line is kind of incongruent with the rest of the song.

Any thoughts?

All My Loving

2010-02-17T13:47:00.005-07:00

So I haven't written in a while, mostly because I've been angry at Blogger. About a week ago, I wrote this awesome, long, in-depth post about the Super Bowl, with play by play coverage, emotional insights, and personal commentary. When I finally finished and tried to publish the post, it got deleted. Pshhhh.

I'm kind of tired of law school these days. I don't like any of my classes, and my motivation is kaput. It's too bad you can't pursue a career in law without a law degree.

In honor of Derrick's recent birthday and the even more recent passing of Valentine's Day, I am going to dedicate this post to Derrick. (awwwwww) I'm going to share our story for those who do not know.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Start of fall semester, September 2007, Brigham Young University, Honors Advanced Writing for Pre-Law Students.
-Our professor makes some comment about liberal Harry Reid coming to BYU to do a forum. Some guy over in the other corner (aka Derrick) makes a comment here - I will not say what the comment was, because we have been debating the content of his comment for about two years, which always turns into WWIII in our house - but regardless of the comment, I get the impression that he implied that all members in good standing should be Republican.
-My temper flares, but since my friends Rob and Julie are trying to teach me to not get into arguments at every turn, I hold my tongue and let the moment for retort pass.
-Our professor asks us to stand up and introduce ourselves. I go first. "My name is Lindsay Agle and I'm a junior from Pittsburgh, PA." *turning to guy in corner* "And YOU, in the white shirt, I happen to be a liberal Mormon." (Disclaimer here - I thought I was bad-a then. No matter how my political beliefs may swing, I never say "i'm liberal" anymore. I realized how lame it is when Mormons think they're cool for being lefties.)
-First impressions can be cruel.

HOW I GOT OVER HATING DERRICK'S GUTS FOR BEING A GUN-TOTING, BUSINESS MAJOR, FAR RIGHT CONSERVATIVE WHO THINKS HE'S THE SHIZ AND PROBABLY WANTS SOME PERFECT WHITE PICKET FENCE WIFE WHO WILL BE HIS SPIRITUAL INFERIOR
(None, of which, he is, but I made some craaazy assumptions about The Guy in the Corner based on that one comment that is still a matter of controversy in our home)
-After months of glaring over at The Guy in the Corner, we both happen to come to class a little bit early one day. We are both trying to finish up our assignments before class started. Since I don't actually want to do the assignment, I start talking to The Guy in the Corner. Good conversation. Peaks my curiosity. (I think I developed a small crush, but I didn't think much of it.)

FACEBOOK THE MATCHMAKER
-Fast forward a few weeks into winter semester. I am preparing my mission papers and thinking little of boys.
-Derrick writes on my facebook wall and we go back and forth. He keeps saying "we should hang out." I am emboldened by the thought that in a few months, I'll be gone anyway, so I just give him my number and tell him to call me.
-He does. We go on various dates (all of which are perfect) and keep in constant contact.

"I GUESS YOU COULD SAY THINGS ARE GETTING PRETTY SERIOUS"
-More dates and happiness.
-I get my mission call to San Fernando, CA for May 14. Neither of us talks about it. Ever.
-End of March - the elephant in the room comes out. We're dating seriously, so what are we going to do about the fact that our relationship has a deadline? Derrick tells me that he thinks it's worth it just to date for a little while.
-Seriousness of our relationship goes up, my chemistry grade goes down.

A BEND IN THE ROAD
-Mid-April - Derrick takes me to Boise to meet him family. We say "I love you" for the first time. The thought that I could stay home from my mission hits me for the very first time ever.
-I decide to stay home.
-Mid-May - We get engaged (yeah, yeah, I know it was fast - January to May)

MARRIED!!
August 22, 2008!!! Best day!

I still love Derrick so much! He is so awesome and everyone in the school is so impressed with his intelligence and insight in class. I just say, "I know!" It is because of his constant support that I can go to law school. I am so happy to be able to spend forever with him! I know that staying home from the mish was the best decision I could make, even though it was hard.

I LOVE YOU DERRICK! (Sorry about being so braggy)

A Taste of Honey

2010-02-02T12:23:00.003-07:00

Thoughts on Veganism/Vegetarianism

I like meat. I like meat a lot. I have a dream that someday I will eat a 40 oz steak (medium rare) and get my picture on the wall. When I go out to eat, I eat so much meat my heart starts to hurt. (Did you know your chances of having a heart attack greatly increase the day after you have a steak dinner?)

Here at the law school, carnivorism is the minority. Almost everyone I talk to is vegetarian or vegan, whether for ethical reasons or just out of preference. Last week, Derrick and I went to a Salt Lake vegan restaurant with one of his friends.

I ordered the chicken tenders and french fries. They were actually okay.

Okay, I have a lot of respect for vegans and/or vegetarians. It takes a lot of dedication to maintain that lifestyle. And 20% of the time, I actually believe that they're happy with their choices. But this goes way, way too far. I refuse to believe that anyone would actually eat and enjoy these.

Vegan beet cupcakes. GROOOOOSS!!

I'm a Loser II

2010-01-29T10:49:00.003-07:00

We the 1Ls have only one class today instead of our usual two. There are a ton of students not here today, and the rumor is that a lot of them decided to take advantage of the shortened day to hit the slopes. And here I am, the sucker, sitting in class. And don't try to tell me I'll be better off for it, because I probably won't.

Consider this post my bumper sticker.

I'd rather be skiing.

Glad All Over

2010-01-26T19:05:00.007-07:00

A Few Things That Are Making Me Happy These Days:

1. I have learned how to ski! I can finally check off one of my life goals that I never thought I would actually see fulfilled. I got a lot of incentive to learn by marrying an avid skier, but my first experience terrified me. Luckily, over break, Derrick and I went to Sun Valley with his family and I was the recipient of a private ski lesson from Hans, the Austrian (seriously! classic!). Derrick was mightily jealous of Hans until I told him he was about 65. Anywho, despite his age, Hans was a fantastic teacher, and in the few times Derrick and I have skied since, I have learned how to ski with ease and speed. I have decided that human was meant to fly down a mountain.

2. Two of my very best friends from high school are DATING! (This one's for you, you-know-who-you-are.) And I'm pretty much the reason for it all, since I set them up for Senior Homecoming...then they went to Senior Prom together...and now, after many years, they have finally made it official. Even Facebook official. It's a big deal.

3. My very best friend Ashley is engaged! I'm so excited for her! They're tentatively scheduled for a May 8th wedding in LA, which means a road trip, sunshine, possible Disneyland excursion (Mom??)... Ashley is going to be a beautiful bride, and I'm so glad I'll be able to go.

4. I am typing this as I am cuddled up in a Softie. Not a Snuggie. A Softie. It's a deluxe version of a Snuggie that is so much better and warmer. It's like a sleeping bag you wear around. Anyone who knows me knows that I HATE being cold, so I am willing to look like a moron if it means that I can close my eyes and pretend I'm in Bermuda.

5. Law school is totally clicking these days. After the horror of the first semester of trying to learn the ropes, I have emerged much wiser and more prepared. Next week, I will begin my work for the school's Pro Bono Initiative, helping lower income families with their legal problems. It will help remind me of why I ever came to law school in the first place, something that is easy to forget in your first semester. Also, I have a potential summer internship lined up with the Guardian ad Litem program, advocating for disadvantaged children and youth.

6. The new season of American Idol has begun. I only watch every couple seasons, but when I do (like this season), I get way into it. Plus, since we live with my parents, we can watch it on DVR and forward through the hords and hords of commercials.

I really should get to my homework. Thanks for reading.

Looking Glass

2010-01-04T08:57:00.006-07:00

I want to make these cupcakes (my one domestic thing, unless you count piano/singing).

Being that "Alice in Wonderland" is my favorite movie of all time, hands down (I have seen it more times than I would ever care to count. I even had it permanently in my PS2 in my bedroom in high school and fell asleep to it every single night.), I believe that these cupcakes are awesome.

P.S. Yes, I am excited for the Tim Burton film. However, it is an excuse for all of these alleged Alice in Wonderland lovers to come out of the closet. It's the same feeling when you've been following a band since the day they placed their first EP on Myspace, and then five albums later, they put out a single and all of the sudden, everyone's like, "I'm a huge [insert band name] fan." Not that I can talk about that. I'm usually the one who doesn't hear about the band until that single, although that is changing with being Derrick's wife. But anyway, my analogy still stands. I can imagine the feelings are the same.

P.P.S. I have a Cheshire Cat collection, one of the very few cats I like.

P.P.P.S. I have seen every version of "Alice in Wonderland" made. Word from the wise - DO NOT watch the one starring Kate Beckinsale. I turned it off halfway through, it was so terrible.

P.P.P.P.S. Another word from the wise - Never show "Alice in Wonderland" to a group of teenaged girls in drug rehab. You remember in high school when your dad would walk in while you were watching "Friends" or something? Suddenly all of the little innuendos that usually you wouldn't care about or even notice were there hanging awkwardly in the room. Same exact feeling. I've seen the film a bazillion times, but watching it through the eyes of a sixteen year old druggie was a whole new, eye-opening experience. Nice job, Disney.

P.P.P.P.P.S. "Alice in Wonderland" is the ONLY movie I like better than the book. Actually, come to think, that just recently changed with "New Moon." Somehow the filmmakers were able to take Stephenie Meyer's crappy writing and turn it into a halfway enjoyable film. Or maybe I was just distracted by Taylor Lautner's abs (what kind of creeper am I?).

P.P.P.P.P.P.S. I loved skiing. Follow up post to come.