Day 24 - Face morph

Visit this site, upload your picture, follow directions.

http://morph.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk//transformer/

My original:

Baby morph:

Botticelli morph:

East Asian morph:

Modigliani morph:

Lame.

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Up tomorrow: A letter to someone I judged by their first impression

Day 23 - Share a favorite tune

One thing I hate about doing these things (like listing favorites) is that I can never think of my favorites when I write these posts, but I always think of lots of things to say after I've published the post.  Oh well.  That being said, it's hard for me to think of anything specific right now.

I do like listening to Pandora.com.  You input a song you like (or an artist you like) and Pandora will play songs for you based on what you liked.  One station I really like lately is the one I created based on the song "Chasing Pavements" by Adele.  Most of the songs they play are great, and I only have to skip a few of them.  I also like a station based on "Tim McGraw".  It plays some great music too.  They're great stations for just playing in the house during the day.  The girls love music and it really enhances the mood of our house when we have music on.

I am loving the song "Break Your Heart" by Taio Cruz, and I would LOVE to get it on my running playlist.  Maybe I'll just have to suck it up and pay $.99 on iTunes. :)  Garrett thinks it's way overplayed on the radio but I think it's perfect to run to.

Speaking of my playlist for running...... I have the typical workout songs - Beyonce, Cake, Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Usher, etc. (maybe these aren't "typical"?  I don't know, actually).  But I think some people would be surprised by a few of the other songs like to listen to while I'm running, ones that aren't very fast - "Against All Odds" by Phil Collins, "Please Remember Me" by Tim McGraw, "Don't Think I Don't Think About It" by Darius Rucker, or some Eagles songs.  These songs mean a lot to me and get my adrenaline going as much as any other workout song does.  I like to have a good mix of music for working out.

I love music, all kinds of music.  I love how it can bring a "mood" to our home, and how it can get me in different moods (depending on how I want to feel, what I want to think about, etc.).  It can be so nostalgic, or happy, or whatever.  I love it.  And I love that my girls love it too.  I hope that someday they will hear these songs again (the ones we like to listen to) and remember all the happy times we've had.

And also in the "nostalgia" category..... first tape I ever owned? Beach Boys.  Don't remember which one but I remember buying it when we lived in Pittsburgh (I was 7 or 8).  First CD I ever owned? Mariah Carey, Fantasy.  Good times.

What was the first tape you ever owned?  First CD?

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Up tomorrow: Face morph.  Don't worry, it's as lame as it sounds.

Day 22 - A photo that makes me happy

Match Day, March 2010

I think the look on Garrett's face says it all.  Years and years of hard work and sacrifice all proved to be worthwhile when Garrett opened his envelope to discover that yes, he would be working in the field of his choice, in his #1 ranked program.  It was a fantastic day, spent with great friends.  I'll never forget it.

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Up tomorrow: Share a favorite tune

Day 21 - Favorite television program(s)

Hands down, the best program of all time is Arrested Development.  It's hilarious, it's brilliant, it never gets old. I will warn you though, that if you watch the Pilot episode (on DVD), there is some swearing.  That's because it was originally going to be on HBO.  Anyway, the show only lasted for 3 seasons because it was completely undervalued while it was around.  It's a classic now, though.  Classic.  They've been talking about doing a movie for years, and I'm still hoping it comes to fruition.  Now that is a movie I would pay to see in the theater.

Seinfeld is also brilliant.  I could watch reruns of Seinfeld every day for the rest of my life and never get tired of it.  Hilarious.  The great thing about that show is that everyone can appreciate it.  It's universal.

Garrett and I have recently started watching 24.  It. is. INTENSE!  And I have to say, I'm pretty disturbed at how much violence there is but it's pretty exciting too.  And we all know I have a crush on Jack Bauer so I forgive him for his misdeeds (not that he does anything wrong.  He's one of the good guys!).  We are halfway through the second season and I'm loving that we have 6 more seasons to watch after this!

And finally, Modern Family is definitely a new favorite and we're looking forward to when that returns to ABC on September 22 at 9pm. Oh, does it sound like I'm making a plug for the show?  I guess I am.  It's great.

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Up tomorrow: A photo that makes me happy

Day 20 - Someone that changed my life

I met her in March 1995.  Her family moved into our ward, and it was a really big deal because she had three cute brothers. :)  She was my age, and in fifth grade just like I was.  But she was much less naive (it seemed) and more mature.  When we met I still had a unibrow and awful clothes.  She wore heels (ok, like 1.5 inches, but still).  I probably still tucked my sweatshirts into my pants, haha.  And I had awful, awful bangs.  Hers were grown out, of course.  Like I said, she was much more mature than I was.

We became friends, naturally.  We saw each other every week at Church, and our families became good friends too, which worked out well for our friendship.  She introduced me to cool music like Mariah Carey and Celine Dion, and taught me how to shave my legs.  We'd spend hours in my room or her room, listening to music and talking about our futures - who we would marry, where we would live, how many kids we would have.  We also talked a lot about going to college and living together.  We said we would always be best friends, BFF's we said.  Nothing could tear us apart.

I was jealous of her a lot because she seemed to be a little more popular than I was, and she was definitely prettier, but we seemed to be a match made in heaven.  We were inseparable.  At church activities we were connected at the hip, and often switched up nametags just to mess with everyone.  We took each other on family trips (remember Sharon VT in the camper? Cabin in Utah? Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving?).  We had a secret language (which, annoyingly, her older brother eventually cracked), private jokes (Wespo, "Stephanie....????").  Just a few weeks ago I came across a 5-page printout of one of our chats on AIM.  It was hilarious but so us.

When we got to high school we became especially busy in our different high schools and different activities, but we still made time for each other and saw each other all the time.  She and her brother(s) would come over for breakfast after seminary (usually on Wednesdays), which was always fun.  We spent lazy Sunday afternoons together on the hammock, just dreaming away.  We'd play the game of "Life" with her siblings, or we'd play Phase 10, sometimes cheating if we were being forced to play.  We had slumber parties, trying to stay up all night watching Pride & Prejudice, but we never seemed to get through all 5 hours at once.

I could go on and on about the memories I have.  She taught me a lot.  I grew a lot from my friendship with her.  We went through some tough times in our 8 years together but thankfully our friendship remained solid.

We did eventually live together, during our freshman year at BYU.  It was great.  But we started to grow apart.  She seemed to hate it there, but I couldn't relate to that because I loved it.  We started to grow distant I think, and sadly I don't really know why I didn't try harder to keep us together.  I think she was going through a hard time, but I'm an avoider and didn't know what to say or how to help, so I stayed silent.  I let our friendship slip away.

Now, seven years later, we are living completely separate (and opposite) lives.  She is starting an exciting career, and I am busy with two little kids.  We live on opposite sides of the country.  I don't think I've seen her more than 3 or 4 times in the last six or seven years.   It's fun to go back read my journals from those years of my life that we were friends.  We thought we would be together forever.

I don't think she reads my blog, but if she does......

Hi!  I miss you.  Thanks for being one of my best friends.  You were one of the best things that ever happened to my little 11-year-old self (and until I was 19).  You encouraged me, you helped me grow up, you introduced me to so many things.  You let me cry on your shoulder when my heart was broken.  You gave me advice.  You were there for me.  I knew I could always count on you.  I hope that everyone, at some point in their lives, gets to have the kind of friend I had in you for all those years.  Thank you.


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Up tomorrow: Favorite television program(s)

Day 19 - Free day - Happenings

Abby, August 2010

Because I've been caught up in doing my "50 Days" posts, I haven't really had a chance to catch up on what we've been up to lately.  Here's the rundown:

Garrett finished his internal medicine rotation.  It was a month from H-E-double hockey sticks.  He was on call 5 times, which means he went in at 7 a.m. and worked straight until the next day around 1 or 2 pm.  Some nights he was able to sleep for about 45 minutes but not usually.  After he'd get home from being on call, he'd sleep for a few hours, get up and have dinner, and then back to bed early so he could be back at work the next day at 7.  Garrett lost about 6 pounds from the stress and constant running around.   I am so glad that Garrett is in a transitional intern program this year.  If he had done a year of medicine for his intern year (like most people going into radiology), this would have been his schedule for an entire year.  Except it would have been worse because he would have been on call every third day instead of every fifth day.  Thanks honey, for getting into a transitional year! :)

One funny story that I think describes his experience well is something that happened a few weeks ago.  Garrett was trying to get some sleep in the on-call room when a nurse called him around 3:30 am.  One of his patients was experiencing some minor throat pain, probably as a result of a tube she had running down her throat into her stomach.  Garrett asked the nurse if the patient had any morphine available.  The nurse said that she did.  Garrett thought about it for a minute and then asked if Tylenol was possible.  Well, they would have to crush it up and put it through the tube, that would be a real hassle.  So Garrett thought about morphine for a few more minutes (probably trying to figure out a dose) until finally the nurse said, "Um.... I was just thinking of maybe giving her some chloraseptic spray.  Is that okay?"  Garrett said, "Oh yeah, that sounds fine!!"  He was pretty embarrassed that he had overlooked the obvious and was about to give morphine to someone with a sore throat, but I suppose that's bound to happen when you are going into your 20th hour of being at work.  I can't even imagine the kind of stress he experiences.

And now he's started his plastic surgery rotation.  Yesterday he didn't have to go in until 1 pm, which was when a surgery was scheduled for, but it ended up being cancelled so he came right back home.  I could get used to this!

I am keeping busy too.  The food storage blog is starting to get back in full swing (we took it easy this summer), and I've been finishing up a few quilts that were half done.  Still doing P90x about 4 times a week, and running or walking 4-5 times a week too.  I decided that I just cannot run if it's over 90 degrees outside. It was killing me and it's just not worth it.  So now I just walk a few miles if it's too hot to run.  I'm also teaching piano lessons.  I have four students, all siblings, and it's going well.  It's been a long time since I taught, but I'm slowing remembering things.  It's kind of hard though because I didn't ever take formal lessons, and one of the girls is pretty advanced and I just don't know what to teach her.  So I've found some websites that will hopefully get me up to speed. :)  Anyway, it's great to have some spending money of my own.  We debated this (nicely) for a while, but in the end, we've decided it's my money.  Garrett works full time at the hospital.  I work full time taking care of the girls and household stuff (paying bills, cleaning, etc).  Piano lessons is my "extra" job, so I can do what I want to with the money.  Right now I'm not saving for anything in particular.  I'm kind of hoping to save it all (or most of it) until we move into a house in Florida, then spend it on some new furniture and things for the house.  I would love to go out and buy curtains and other fun things now (our apartment could definitely use it!), but it seems like such a waste to spend money on those things when we'll only be here for another 9-10 months.  So I'm saving up for the house, but buying a few things here and there (i.e. throw pillows) that will for sure work even after we move.

We are going to D.C. this weekend - I'm so excited to spend some time away with Garrett's family.  We're meeting his parents and sister and her family there for the Glenn Beck rally.  I've never been to a rally before so it should be fun.  I'm crossing my fingers that Garrett can take Friday off so we can spend the whole day Friday in D.C., too.  I'd love to go to the temple and also spend some extra time downtown doing some sightseeing.  Last time we were in D.C. was during the cherry blossom festival, and while it was fun to be there with family, it was pretty miserable trying to fight the crowds.  Hopefully this weekend will be much better.

Abby is having fun.  We finally got a new hard drive (I broke our last one, don't ask) and we were able to transfer all our old files to the new one, thank goodness.  There were a lot of Disney movies on it, so Abby's been watching one movie a day.  It's so fun to watch movies with her that I loved as a kid!  It's great to see her reactions to the funny parts and the songs.  She's been watching Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and the Little Mermaid.  She loves them all.  Abby's also in a tough stage.  Three years old is hard!  She is definitely pushing her boundaries.  Probably the biggest problem we have is getting her to stay seated at the table during mealtimes.  Each day, I finally threaten her that I will take her meal away if she gets off the chair one more time, so she'll slowing slide off the chair and put both feet on the ground, but still lean on the chair.  So I take her food away, she screams and cries, and then usually I give in because she really doesn't eat much in general, so I feel bad taking away the food she does want to eat.  And then I feel guilty for giving in and I realize she'll never learn if I keep doing that.  We're working on it.

Ellie is cute as usual.  I am loving her age right now.  When Abby was one year old, I remember just loving that stage and I'm feeling the same way about Ellie now.  Too young to be naughty, old enough that she can be a bit independent, and easily appeased with snacks.  She is also starting to say little phrases ("What is that?"), which is just adorable.  Still doesn't say "mama", though. :)

So that's us right now.  I have noticed that a couple of my friends have picked up the 50 Day challenge and I'm LOVING it!  Still waiting for Emma to start, though (and a few others!).  But I suppose she has an excuse since she just had a baby. (Speaking of the baby.... he is so cute.  I wrote a post about baby John a few weeks ago and he's gotten cuter since!!)

Oh, and we just started season two of '24' (thank you, plastic surgery elective, for allowing Garrett to be home so much!).  It's intense!  We're loving it and it has definitely solidified my celebrity crush that I wrote about last week.

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Up tomorrow: Someone that changed my life

Day 18 - Share or set a goal

Garrett and I have a goal that someday, we will attend all 4 of the tennis Grand Slams. 

This is a big deal because Garrett really doesn't like to travel much, especially to places he's never been.  Sure, he loves going on the yearly dirtbike trips in southern Utah (when he can make it), and he likes to visit family, but Garrett's not really into seeing new places and learning about history.  Especially in Europe.  Every time I mention traveling to Europe, Garrett gets a disgusted look on his face.  Don't know why. 

So, I was rather surprised when Garrett mentioned that it's one of his goals to attend all four Grand Slams, seeing as how two of them are in Europe (Wimbledon and the French Open).  I told him that since each tournament lasts about a week (at least), he'd be spending a good chunk of time in each country, which he's okay with.  I'll admit, I didn't know much about tennis before Garrett and I got married, but I love sports and I quickly caught on to the rules as we have watched various tournaments on tv throughout the last couple of years.  I'm really excited about this goal we have, not only for the tennis but for the fun travel experiences it will provide for us.

4 Grand Slams:
Wimbledon (England)
French Open (France)
U.S. Open (NYC)
Australian Open (Sydney)

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Up tomorrow: Free day.....