to answer your question

If I were to say why, half of the world, and very likely you, would be highly offended. I just don't care for or subscribe to any of that, and I'll probably always be a disappointment to you because I don't ever plan to. Indeed, my present self would be ashamed of my future self if I ever were to.
Yet what would my future self know? People aren't the type that, in the moment, consider their actions or ideas to be silly or foolish or needing to be checked; that is why so much silly, foolish, and unchecked things or notions get done or inspired.
Granted, there is much silly- and foolishness that I partake in: like eating crackers and cheese right before bed, spilling milk in the car, or spending an entire week of evenings reading my Austen and Bronte classics instead of attending to the negelcted kitchen or cluttered rooms.
But there are just some types of foolishness I hope to always avoid, and if there are steps I can take to make that hope more certain, then I definitely will take them two at a time.


In other news, I have little regard for my bosses. Luckily the people I work with are respectable.

and, three of my beautiful nails broke today. but the fact that I had them is applaudable. Seven out of ten doesn't look too tacky.

I'M DOING THIS

And I can't frickin' wait! But really I have to. Till February.

Now, as some people may know, I love and live to run. More than Mike does for college football (mine's year round! beat that!). I sometimes truly honestly wish that I could quit work and just concentrate on my running and being awesome. Honestly, I am not very good -- but I absolutely strive to be. I can run for a pretty long time. I have the endurance to be able to pick up and run an hour after not running for a long time, and I have a level enough head (or maybe it's the opposite) to be able to stand/love an upwards of three hour run when in shape and 80 mile weeks (though I haven't done that since getting engaged). Can you imagine how amazing it would be to be a real runner and just run all the time and do 200 mile weeks? makes my shoulders go weak.

SO. My excitement: I am going to be one of a twelve-woman team to run 36 legs of a 202-mile relay race from Prescott to Mesa. One plus of the course is that it's coming back down into the valley, so there'll be plenty of downhill! Looking at the course map, though, there will be plenty of tough legs, too.

TO MY FAMILY: I hope to claim leg 23 because it passes right by my parents' house out in carefree, and I expect everyone to be out there cheering me on - even if it's at three in the morning.

See? The little black circle is their house, and the red line covering the Carefree Highway is leg 23. Just as I said: right by. If you zoom out it looks a lot closer.

TO MIKE'S FAMILY: Lap 36 (the very last lap) runs right by your house -- even more right by than my parents'. I would draw on another map image, but it would be so zoomed in order to see just how close it passes that people would be able to see in your windows, and that's not safe to post on the internet. We'll just suffice it to say that it is within a two-minute's walk of your front door, right on McClellan and Grand. I do not quite feel comfortable asking for the last leg of the race, since I think that might belong to the captain, but I'll be there all the same.

Is this not the coolest thing? If you want to run....I can see if we're still wanting girls. I don't know yet who all is on the team, or if we even have 12 yet.

Also, to be cool and see cool stuff, visit http://www.ragnarrelay.com/.

What I Pass Up

The debut Kate Spade clothing line is out. It's beautiful. I got to research Kate Spade for my entrepreneurship class last semester. It's a pretty cool/interesting story. From an entrepreneur standpoint.


My life would be a little more sweet with this cardigan. I am infatuated with it, quite literally. I keep a window open in one of my tabs at work and sometimes click over to it just to look at it again.

The problem is that I will never own it. The price of ownership is the same as six months of internets, or 13 tanks of gas, or the cost of repairing my laptop keyboard, or about a million dinners, or the collective cost of all of the wedding presents we will buy till this time next year.

I don't think I could ever really feel right about owning/wearing something - just one little article of clothing - with such a high price. Actually I take that back. I've worn expensive gifts and not felt too bad. I don't think I could feel right about actually buying it. It's not just that I would feel guilty about spending so much on myself or one thing, I would feel less personal integrity. There are things to spend money on, and a wardrobe that makes me feel beautiful is one of those, but I know my Heavenly Father (and heck, my earthly father) is counting on me to find a way to use my resources to help my family and others around me, not just me. But with these ideas and feelings, why am I cursed with such expensive taste? It just makes it so I never buy anything.

And maybe I take this too far, or maybe we're just poor, but seriously, I bought some tan pants, a couple pair of jeans, and some tank tops for EFY last summer, and then the next time I bought any clothing, except for my wedding dress, was my graduation outfit (this past May). Is that sad? I'm getting better though, 'cause I bought a few things with my birthday dinero from mis padres a couple weeks ago.

To close this post up, I will tell of my solution to the cardigan problem. I'm sure I could find a good, adorable cardigan with the same bracelet sleeves for $30-50. Then it's all a matter of cutting up felt into those cute flowers, stitching them in with little beads, and probably replacing whatever buttons it has to be as cute as the ones in the picture. And if I ever get around to finding, cutting, and stitching, I could invite you over to make your own. Though it would obviously have to be in different colors.

Separate Thoughts

I think I am different from some people. Right now anyway.

Work has been really busy and crazy. And really good. I work hard there.

My "Y" key is still off my keyboard. It's because I'm a Sun Devil for life.

There is a giant spider in my office. He hangs out under a skylight all day long and then the next day is on the other side of the room under another skylight.

I love my husband a really lot.

I love my china a really lot. I really wish that my pedastal cake dish was not dead.

I have been running more lately than a doctor would let me if we had the monies to go to one. But just on dirt and if I have to cross over concrete or asphalt I walk or hop across on my left foot.

My co-worker's name is Yvette. She also answers to "you bet."

My apartment smells different everytime I walk in it.

I really like the book I'm reading to Mike right now. I like it more than he does. He doesn't like books as much as I do.

Mike needs a haircut soon.

Lately, the easiest/best-looking hairstyle for me is a low, messy fluted bun. or two. with a ribbon around my head. I think I've been wearing ribbons in my hair for always.

In high school this girl made fun of my ribbons. I don't remember if I cared or not.

Cows. Gee whiz.

I love throws so much. We got some for our wedding and had some already. So now we have a bunch. And I love them so much. I only use one throw, though.

Playing a piano is better than playing a keyboard, but playing a keyboard is better than not playing a piano.

We won't buy a house for a while. We don't see any reason to, and rather think it would be foolish.

I like when people get married.

There's a big patch of drywall replaced on our wall. I wonder what happened.

I recently (yesterday) got a new phone to replace my poor chocolate, which has chunks missing out of it from the many times it has gone flying across various parkng lots. While transferring my pictures over, I realized I have a lot of this one little kid, so I decided to tell you all about him.

This is my nephew Carter. He is one of many (many many many), but he is seen so often on my phone because I lived with him and his parents for a year. His cutest year.

Here is a list about things that Carter likes:

Carter likes watching TV. ...

.............during haircuts.

............sitting in laundry baskets.

.............while on the phone.
(this particular morning I had come out of my room to find him sitting there. like that. just watching his morning cartoon.)

................and always with his lechejugojuice

Carter likes lechejugojuice. ....

Now, Carter has never been to Jugo Juice, a shop in Mesa. The picture above actually means nothing to Carter because he can't read yet. Carter's parents are both fluent spanish speakers, so they birthed a little white boy that speaks a jumble of spanglish. This is the basics of the most common interchange in that house:

Carter: I want lechejugojuice
Mom: Que dices?
Carter: Pleaseporfavor (while rubbing his belly)

He doesn't always stick to just his milk though -- not if there's a Camelbak around. If it weren't for this kid, I wouldn't have discovered the lifesaver of a water sprayer that a broken mouth-piece is. Heaven on a hot day.

Carter likes eyewear. ...

......of all kinds. And looks good in it.

Carter likes to dress up. ...

.........in anything that's around really.

Here is one of Carter's best. This is from the early days of potty training. Those are boxers.

Carter likes eating. ....

..............and making a mess of it. You should have seen this meal. With each bite, more made it on his body than made it to his mouth. He was confused as to why I was cracking up.

.............and here is a classic Carter. This was either his birthday or the day after his birthday. He had just gotten that dinosaur and loved it. When I walked up to him and found this sight, though, he turned to me and said, very sadly, nearly on the verge of tears, "The dinosaur ate my muffin."

So there's Carter. He's pretty cool. I hear that nowadays he's growing up more and is far more interested in Batman than anything else (even Veggie Tales). Yet, I'll always remember him best as the kid that would come into my room at seven in the morning and casually open the conversation by saying, "So, how was work honey?" because that's a natural conversation starter, and the kid who runs up and down under the rain run-off,

and the kid that is for hours entertained by my toothbrush sarcophagus.

(and can say it, too)

You know those Four Peaks you can see from the Valley off in the distance (that everyone knows about - unless you're like a couple of my friends....go here or here if you are)? On Saturday Mike and I climbed (literally) to the highest of them, Brown's Peak. It is described by other hikers/climbers as a class 4 and "for experienced climbers only." We're monsters.

At the top we could see the entirety of both Roosevelt and either Apache or Saguaro (not sure which one) lakes, and the whole rest of the Valley and beyond. Mike tells you more about it at his new hang-out, mikeshikes2009.blogspot.com. Check it out.

To Potential Interviewers/Employers:

There is something I would like you to be aware of: my personal and family plans are, in fact, none of your business. In fact, you should not even think about or consider them when looking at hiring me. In fact, it would be illegal for you to do so. In fact, if someone with the same or lesser qualifications was awarded a position over me and I felt it was due to your consideration of my womanhood and potential to become pregnant, I could sue you. In fact, women have won millions.

Now, I would never try to be misleading in this area, and, were my own plans disjointed with the company's plans for me, it would simply be a position I could not accept. For this very reason I have not interviewed with the big accounting companies: I cannot promise the completely devoted years of service I would be under contract and expectation to give after the years and dollars they put in to train and mentor me. But one thing I can promise is to fulfill any contract or expectation that I do accept.

I have a question for you. Even if you were to consider that I have motherhood plans in my future, why would you not hire me? Would you prefer that the mothers of the next generation are uneducated and inexperienced? Would it not profit the world, this country, and even your community to have mothers that have worked through an education and applied that education through experience to gain true learning about people and the working of the world around them, who can then use this all in teaching and raising their children? With this in mind, who do you expect, if not you, to hire these future mothers? Another company? And who do they expect?