New Blog

Scotty and I have come together, joined our hateful minds and created a new blog for your enjoyment. The blog is dedicated to wasting time by creating lists of things you hate. It's cathartic, fun, and doesn't make you a bad person.

http://100thingsihate.wordpress.com/

Enjoy! And please submit if you feel inclined!

(to submit: e-mail hundredsofthingsihate@gmail.com with your list)

100 Things I Love

Okay. I promise I'm not a hateful person. The following is a list of things I love. And I'll have you know...it was put together much quicker than the "Things I hate" list. Enjoy!

100 Things I love….

1. Adrenaline
2. Adrien’s cats
3. Antiques
4. Apples to Apples
5. Barack Obama
6. Bedtime
7. Big cities
8. Blogging
9. Book stores (namely Powell’s Books)
10. BYU Deseret Towers
11. BYU Germanic & Slavic Department
12. Café Rio
13. Candles
14. Christmas
15. Clean house
16. CNN
17. Coldplay
18. Concerts
19. Cooking
20. Costa Rica
21. Creepiness
22. CSI: Las Vegas
23. CSI: New York
24. Date night
25. Diet Coke
26. Digital Cameras
27. Disneyland
28. Elections
29. Facebook
30. Family (you know who you are)
31. Family Guy
32. Family time
33. Feminism
34. Film
35. Friends (you know who you are)
36. Gay people
37. Germany
38. Ghoulie hunting
39. Gingerbread
40. Google
41. GPS
42. Guacamole
43. Gustav Klimt
44. Habitat for Humanity
45. Holidays
46. Home for the holidays
47. Humanitarianism
48. I Love New York
49. Ikea
50. Jewish jokes
51. Laughing
52. Leopard print
53. Lingerie
54. Llamas
55. London
56. MAC Makeup
57. Mark
58. Marzipan
59. Monty Python
60. My car
61. My ipod
62. My wedding/honeymoon/ring
63. Napping
64. Nordstrom
65. Oktoberfest
66. Open mindedness
67. Oregon
68. Oregon coast
69. Pajamas
70. Parties
71. Petitions
72. Photos
73. Politics
74. Postmodern art
75. Pumps
76. Punctuality
77. Rain
78. Religion
79. Rice cookers
80. Sarcasm
81. Scrapbooking
82. Sex and the City
83. Slate.com
84. Snow Patrol
85. Steven Colbert
86. Success
87. Sundays
88. Surprises
89. Talking animals
90. The Office
91. The Oscars
92. TMZ
93. Tobey (Aunt Geli’s dog)
94. Trashy television (anything on VH1 or MTV)
95. Traveling
96. Vogue
97. Widescreen movies
98. Windows on PC
99. Writing
100. YouTube

100 Things I Hate

This morning I challenged Scotty to make a list of 100 things that he hates. He promptly sent me his nearly completed list. I was shocked at how many things he claims he hates. Scotty claims that "it's easier than you think" to come up with a list of 100 things that you hate.

He was right.

So, here's my list. If you're looking to take offense, don't read this list. It's all in good fun. And if you think I'm a bad person, then you have to read Scotty's list. He is a way worse person than I am!

1. “Happy Birthday” song
2. “We are registered at _____” cards
3. Allergies
4. American Idol (and everyone on it)
5. Ann Coulter
6. Anne Hathaway
7. Ball pits (unsanitary)
8. Bathroom humor
9. Being cold
10. Big dogs
11. Birth control
12. Blackboard quizzes
13. Bragging
14. BYU Football
15. BYU Politics
16. BYUSA
17. Casserole
18. Chick flicks
19. Cigarette smoke
20. Clowns
21. Cocky returned missionaries in German classes
22. Coins
23. Converse
24. Country music
25. Crossword Puzzles
26. Crying
27. CSI: Miami
28. Cultural hall wedding receptions
29. Dirty houses
30. Divorce
31. Donnie and Marie Osmond
32. Drunk drivers
33. Eaves dropping
34. Emo kids
35. Engagements after only two weeks
36. Europeans who claim that Americans have no culture
37. Facebook chat
38. Family Reunions
39. Flakiness
40. FOX News
41. Funerals
42. Gas
43. Gatorade/Powerade
44. GRE exam
45. Green beans
46. Guns
47. Health care in the United States
48. Hospitals
49. Hot and humid weather
50. Hotmail
51. Iceberg lettuce
52. Irresponsible Parents
53. Jean jackets worn with jeans
54. John Bytheway
55. Latvia
56. Laundry
57. Light blue
58. Loud breathing
59. Math
60. Miley Cyrus
61. Misogyny
62. Mormon culture
63. Multiple choice tests
64. MySpace
65. Name dropping
66. Old Testament
67. One-uppers
68. Online lingo (idk/lmao/g2g)
69. Paperwork
70. Police
71. Polynesian intimidation
72. Popularity contests
73. Power trips
74. Pretentious professors
75. Professor Bott
76. Proposition 8
77. Psychology
78. Puka shells
79. Pyramid Schemes
80. Racism
81. Radicals
82. Sarah Palin
83. Sean Hannity
84. Sexism
85. Snow
86. South Park
87. Southern California
88. Studded belts
89. Studying
90. Stupid questions (they exist)
91. Techno music
92. Texting during movies
93. The Daily Universe (especially Letters to the Editor)
94. The phrase “The American Dream”
95. The Princess Bride
96. Thick bangs
97. Utah
98. Wal-Mart
99. War in Iraq
100. Winter semester

This is the best thing I have ever seen. Mark and I watch it at least once a week.

One-upping is Tacky.

one-up (verb)
to gain an advantage in some way that betokens success

I have a strong distaste for people who seek for opportunities to one-up others. It seems to happen all of the time. However, I should add that my distaste does not include one-ups in academics, sports or competitions. I expect opposition in these arenas. My distaste is for people who find it necessary to one-up others when it comes to suffering, health, pain or stress.

Earlier this week I mentioned to someone that I had a horrible headache. This person responded, "Oh. Well, don't feel bad because I have a headache too. And I'm tired."

You have witnessed a one-up. Not only did this person also have a headache, but they were tired on top of it.

It's not like I go around pleading for sympathy from people, but I at least expect someone to respond, "I'm sorry/that's no fun/do you want some vicodin?" Or something along those lines, of course. What good does it do to one-up someone by competing against their misery? It's not like my headache managed to magically disappear because someone else had more pain than I did. In fact, I'm positive my headache only worsened.

Next time, I'm not falling in this one-upping trap again. The following is how my conversation will roll out in the future:

Me: "I have a headache."
Them: "Oh. Well, don't feel bad because I have a headache too. And I'm tired."
Me: "Yeah? Well, I was diagnosed with cancer yesterday and shortly after a wild polar bear ate my baby. When I got home, aliens burned my house down and poisoned my dog. And on top of all of that... I'm on my period. What a week!"

That will shut-up the one-uppers!

We caved. It's now Christmas in our house.

But first: I'd like to direct you to our new, fabulous frame which features Gustav Klimt's Der Kuss. Mark and I love this print and have waited for the perfect frame to come along. Thank you Ikea!Now for the good stuff:

Normally I'm a staunch supporter of starting Christmas the day after Thanksgiving, but this year Christmas officially starts in our house on November 9th. Here is my justification:

• There are 46 days left until Christmas; 20 of which will be spent in Portland for Thanksgiving and Christmas. If we put up the decorations after we get home from Thanksgiving break that gives us a mere two weeks or so to enjoy our decorating and Christmas spirit.
• Part of that lousy two and a half weeks will include lame finals. And we all know that during finals week I never embody the Christmas spirit. Therefore, wasted time.
• Mark and I have finished all of our Christmas shopping. So we've been launched into the Christmas spirit early.
• Mark was put on hold the other day. The holding music: Christmas carols.
• It's all Ikea's fault. If we hadn't gone there on Saturday, none of this would have happened.
  

But I still have a little bit of Thanksgiving cheer...

I have not forgotten about Thanksgiving. I know what I am grateful for. One of the things I am grateful for is my German heritage. Without the Germans, Christmas would cease to exist. Advent, ornaments, traditions and all of my beautiful handmade Christmas decorations come from Germany. If you've ever been to a Christmas market in Germany, you know the Germans do Christmas the right way. Thank you Mom and Omi for making me German.

And...Dad - I love you anyway even though you thinned the blood line.

Merry Christmas!!

My new president.

Eight long years are finally coming to an end and I feel blessed to have participated in history. Whether or not you agree with Obama's policies, you cannot deny the greatness of this historical time. I envy the people who have witnessed progression. Those who lived before, during and after the civil rights movement and once thought that a black president was impossible.

My feelings at the moment can be summed up in three words: I have hope. Surely, our national problems will not disappear magically but perhaps new found hope will lead us in the right direction. Obama will certainly inherit a mess created by past presidents, but I have hope and faith that he will at least throw a ladder in the hole so we can begin to climb out.

I awoke this morning feeling a sense of nationalism. Feeling proud of my country, my leaders and myself for voting.

I awoke this morning with an unfamiliar spirit of responsibility for my country. More than ever, I feel like my voice matters. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

I awoke this morning with with e-mails from friends and family in Europe who thanked me for making the right decision. They expressed their happiness with the decision. Their positive sentiments toward my country showed me that Obama has already made a mark on the world.

(Read this TIME article: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1856584_1856586_1856592,00.html)

What a privilege it will be to tell my children that I helped to elect the first black president. And I hope Obama's next four years will give me even more reason to brag to my children about electing such a wonderful man into office.

Not only do I believe that Obama is a brilliant politician, but I believe he is a brilliant family man. He loves his wife and children and I certainly strive to have a loving family as he does. He cherishes his wife and nurtures his children. It's not often that we see a politician whose passion for politics is equal to or less than his/her passion and commitment to family.

Today was a good day for me. I walked on campus and for the first time since I can remember, I looked up at the American flag and felt emotional. I felt a dash of nationalism, a load of responsibility and an overwhelming amount of happiness.

This will be a good four years.

More of our weekend with Barack.

Photo Courtesy: Chris Jewell.

(Believe me, I won't take credit for these photos obviously taken from a much nicer camera than mine!)

Our weekend with Barack Obama.

We went down to Las Vegas this weekend to see Barack Obama speak at a local high school in Henderson, Nevada. We rolled into Las Vegas around midnight, checked-in at the Hilton, slept for a little over four hours and took off at 5:00 a.m. to get in line to see Barack. Arie and I waited in line for over an hour, while the boys fetched us some food. Once we finally got into the stadium, we ran to one of the best seats in the house. We were standing 15-20 feet away from where Barack Obama was going to speak. We stood there, in our golden spot, for three hours!

Finally, after waiting hours with built-up anticipation, Harry Reid came on stage to introduce the man we were waiting to see. I was thrilled to see Senator Reid. He is one of my heroes as he is a strong Democrat who is also an active Mormon.

Then Barack finally came on stage and the crowd went wild. Once I get my hands on the photos Chris took, I'll post more. Chris got some great shots of Obama speaking. Also, Mark took video of most of the rally. I'll have to get some clips up. He did a really good job.

Obama spoke about change, peace, health care, education, the economy and unity. I will admit that I was a bit teary-eyed when he came on stage. He really brings with him a powerful presence that feels so good.


I was sooo close to our next president. My goal was to touch him, but it was nearly impossible.

Once the rally was over, we went back to the strip to wander and eat a good lunch at the Cheesecake Factory inside of Caesars Palace.