Things I Love #1: Sesame Street

I grew up on Sesame Street and watching it with Miriam makes me feel like the circle is complete. I loved it as a child. As an adult, it is almost even better. They still have The Letter of the Day, The Number of the Day, Fairy Tale Breaking News, Hooper's Store, and Trash Gordon. They've added Rosita with the Spanish Word of the Day, Elmo and Elmo's World, and Abby Cadabby, one of the cutest little fairies in training I've ever seen. One of my favorite things about Sesame Street is the special celebrity appearances. Ben Stiller was on the "People in my Neighborhood" segment with Telly. After singing the song about the mail lady and the milk man, he dressed up as a piece of cheese and sang about how cheese is a person in your neighborhood. Then decided that wasn't a good idea when the mail lady and the milk man came back hungry and saw a hunk of cheddar. The Dixie Chicks sang "There's No Letter Better than B" to the tune of "I Can Love You Better Than That" with Big Bird, Bert, and Baby Bear. The letter of the day that day was "B." Anderson Cooper, the CNN reporter, joined Oscar's GNN (Grouch News Network) crew. Alicia Keys sang and danced with Elmo, Alison Kraus and Union Station sang and counted with the Count, and Travis Tritt actually appeared in Elmo's World. Rachael Ray, Robert DiNiro, Gloria Estefan, Diana Krall, Dr. Phil, Ann Curry, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Al Roker have all appeared in various silly situations with our favorite monsters of Sesame Street. I also love the celebrities appearing in monster form. Donald Grump showed up one day looking for a trash apprentice, Dr. Feel stepped in for a self-help show, and Dan Rather-Not said he'd rather not answer any questions. With Sesame Street it really is a sunny day, chasing the clouds away. I feel that I'm on my way to where the air is sweet. Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?

The New and Improved "After" Shot

When Brent realized I was serious about feeling like a punkrocker, he gave me his tip on keeping hair down from the days that he had hair longer than it is now. He said he always put on a baseball hat right after his shower and let it dry smashed down. Well, I did it and it works. No more punk look for me! HOORAY! I can honestly say that today I have felt cute and peppy and trendy. Thanks for the tip, Brent! I love this haircut!

The First Cut is the Deepest

About a month ago, I was watching the show "What Not to Wear," which I love (and since I don't have cable the only time I see it is when I visit Boise, but that's another topic). Anyway, Nick Arrojo, the hair guru, cut a girl's hair really really short. I have always looked at girls with short hair and thought "gosh, that's cute, I wish I could do it..." This time, I thought "gosh, that's cute, maybe I should do it." The more I thought about it, the more I decided that now was my time for short hair. Last week I went in to my haircutting lady armed with pictures of short haircuts that tickled my fancy. Two and a half hours (spread over two days) and twelve inches later, I have a brand new look. Here is the breakdown of pros and cons that I see with my new sassy cut.

Pro: I love that it is different than anything I've done before. Especially now that I'm a mom, I don't want to get caught in a hair rut, and this is anything but.

Con: I don't want a "mom" cut. But I don't think it is. And the more I get used to fixing it the more stylish it will be.

Pro: I love that I can lean back on the couch and not have a ponytail (or bun or braid or kukabunny) lump crinking my neck.

Con: When I can't get it to look right, I can't put in a ponytail (or bun or braid or kukabunny).

Pro: I love how chunky and textured the back and bottom of it is.

Big Con: I feel that the top is too short and almost punk-rocker-ish.

Pro: With short hair, I only have to wait a month or so for it to grow out to a doable length, as opposed to the cuts that I have to wait six months for them to do so. In fact, I think a huge pro is that if I try something and cut it a way that didn't work quite how I thought it should, it won't take that long for it to be long enough to go back and try it again.

Pro: I love it how a little fringe comes out the bottom and sides of hats, which is perfect for the spring and summer. And when I can't get the top to lay down.

Con: With my hair short, I find that I actually have "bear hair," the kind of hair that is kind of puffy and separated and looks like it would repel water.

Pro: Jeff Hornacek has bear hair, so it can't be all bad.

Pro: With a little product, I can texturize the bear-y-ness.

Con: Even with product it still is pretty puffy, just a texturized puffy that leans towards the previously described punk-rocker look.

Pro: Brent loves it. He has always said he liked my hair, but I have never gotten so many non-requested sincere complements on my hair from him.

Pro: It is fun to be one who is "brave enough" to cut my hair. This is the most common comment from other women. And I like it.

Con: When I look in the mirror, it doesn't look like me. It actually looks like pictures of my mom when I was a little girl. Which is good because she was a chic and stylish lady, but it doesn't look like what I picture myself to look like.

Pro: Again, I don't want to get stuck in a rut, so it's good to have a look that stretches me.

Pro: I really like the way it feels when I run my fingers through the back of it. I've frequently noticed how women with short hair always play with and ruffle their hair. Now I know why.

So all in all, I love the new haircut. Yes, I'm excited for the top to grow a bit and not be so spiky, and there will probably come a time where I go back to long hair. But I'm thrilled to be a short-hair girl for the time being.

And I know that the title of this post sounds a little dismal, but I don't mean it to be. That's just the song that has been in my head since she took that first cut and I think it's a pretty catchy opener...

Go Jazz Go!

I came home from my mission (nice segue from the last post, don't you think?) in March of 1999. That was the year where there was an NBA strike in the early portion of the season. To make up games, the Jazz were playing almost every night. Now I had always been a Jazz fan, but I hadn't ever before actively followed the team. I had never watched enough games to know all the players, to know what was going on in the season, and to sense the grandeur of the Playoffs and Finals. During this time, however, I went to an intensely lonely and mind-numbing job all day, and virtually every night returned home to a cozy Jazz game with chips and salsa and my good friends John Stockton, Karl Malone, Flyin' Bryon Russell, and Jeff Hornacek. My life was complete and happy. I at times lament the timing of my joining the Jazz fan base due to the fact that the two years immediately preceeding this, the Jazzmen took us to the Finals. But in reality it is better this way. In 1998 I was in Chile and would not have been a part of the action anyway. By not knowing how wonderful it was, I didn't realize how much I was giving up. ANYWAY, back to the Playoffs of '99. In the first round, the Jazz beat the Sacramento Kings in a nailbiter fifth game (back when the first round had only five games). Although we won, I developed a great dislike for the Kings and greasy East European players. The second round was against the Portland Trailblazers. After four games, it looked bleak for the Jazz, who were down 3-1. Then they won another game, making it 3-2 and breathing life back into the Finals dreams of Jazz fans everywhere. But it was not to be. The Jazz lost game 6, and the season was over. It was sad, sad, sad. But sadder still was the realization that came upon me in the days to follow. The only friends I had were the Jazz players. The only social life I had were the Jazz games. And with the Jazz out of the Playoffs, I was out of luck. It was a sad, sad, sad hit of reality. But every October they come back. John and Karl have moved on, but I have Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams, Matt Harpring, and Kyle Korver (my favorite). And for those who don't know, after the past few rebuilding years, they've been doing absolutely fabulously this year. They finished 4th in the Western Conference and not many games behind first. They are currently playing the Houston Rockets in the first round. The first two games were in Houston, and our boys won them both! That means that the Jazz are headed home for the next two games and they are already two games up! And the Jazz have the best home-game record in the entire NBA! The winner of this series will go on to play the winner of the Lakers/Nuggets series (I think) in the Western Conference Semifinals. And the winner of that series will play in the Western Conference Finals. And the Western Conference champion will go on the play the Eastern Conference champion in the NBA Finals. If you want to be inspired by this team, go to http://www.utahjazz.com/ and watch the flash intro. If that doesn't get your heart pumping, I don't know what will. This is what dreams are made of. GO JAZZ GO!!!

The Tale of the Butterfly

A week and a half ago, Brent and I went to my mission reunion. It has been ten years since I served in the Chile Santiago West mission and about seven since I went to a reunion. But being there with the people I shared my mission with completely swept me back in time. During my time in Chile, I went from a girl who thought she knew quite a bit about life to a girl who felt she could do nothing to a girl who realized the magnificence of the truths she taught the Chileans and that they also applied to herself. I feel that much of who I am today was forged during that time. When it came time for me to go home, I was terribly excited and also so terribly nervous. I wondered if the person I had fought to become would survive the trip back into the real world. I shared my fears with my mission president, and he told me a cheesy story about how a butterfly never goes back to being a caterpiller. It was completely silly. The only analogy he could have shared that would have been more trite would have been the ugly duckling. Even so, I believed him and I cried. As cliche as it was, I felt like a butterfly and knew I would not revert again to a mere caterpiller. I felt at that moment that he understood me, knew me, and loved me and through him I experienced the all-encompassing love of my Heavenly Father. I feel like my entire mission built to that moment, when I turned to the future with a calm and peaceful heart, sure about myself and my testimony of Christ and His restored gospel. I have not kept in contact with President Hadfield. I knew he moved back to California after his mission years, but that's about it. I saw him at the reunion last week and felt a surprising gush of love for him and his wife. For the first time in a while, I thought of details of the mission years and noticed with pride the parts of me that exist because of them. I embraced both President and Sister Hadfield and again was thankful for what we shared. I am grateful for that experience. I got an email yesterday that President Hadfield passed away early Monday morning. Although I have not been close with him, I feel that a part of me is gone. My thoughts and prayers go out to Sister Hadfield and all of the Hadfield family. This is a picture taken on Saturday evening at his stake's prom. (A stake prom? What a gung-ho stake activities committee they must have!) I love it because Sister Hadfield is laughing and President is trying not to. I think it gives them a wonderful realness. I will miss President John C. Hadfield and am honored to be one of his missionaries.

Swing into Spring

Since the snow melted, we have been hitting the parks many afternoons and most weekends when we don't have to be elsewhere. A lot of what we do is scouting out what Miriam likes because the last time it was warm enough to be outside for long periods of time, she wasn't walking yet. And a walking child has much different park needs than a non-walking child. We have found that our favorite slides are at the public schools. They tend to be slower and Miriam can actually go down all by herself. It's adorable... she puts her little hand on the side and grins as she slowly twirls to the bottom. After trying most of the parks in Midvale, we still couldn't find swings or a teeter totter. So today we ventured to Murray Park to see what we could see. Their slides were slickity fast, but they had a lot of variety of other playground events, including climbing walls and crazy twirly pods. But they did have swings, and the swings were a huge hit with Miriam. She initially had the "I'm-not-really-sure-what's-happening" look, but when we took her out of the swing, she ran back to it and each time I stopped the swing, she signed "more." So we swang and swinged and swung all morning long. She swung while we watched a family get ready for their family pictures. She swang while the park lady picked up all of the garbage. She swinged until we simply got tired of pushing her and the only way we got her away from the swings without a breakdown was by putting her on dad's shoulders. Murray Park was a hit. It's a little sentimental because that is where Brent and I had our Utah wedding reception. Ah, those were the days. But we are still in search of a teeter totter. Do they exist any more?

A Great Paradox

Monday morning, Miriam and I went to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy with Claudia and Myelle and family. It was fantastic. Afterwards it was dark and rainy, so I turned on my headlights. When I got home, I was so focused on a very tired little girl who is transitioning to one nap a day that I forgot to turn off the headlights. So it came as no surprise that when we got into the car to go to the library that afternoon that the car did not start. No problem. We'll go to the library another day. When Brent got home, we went back out to jump the car but the hood did not pop open. The cable that opens the hood seems to be broken somewhere between the lever to pop it open and the latch that pops. So what I have is a car that needs to be taken in to get the hood fixed but before we can take it in, we need to get the hood open so we can jump it, but before we can jump it, we need to take it in to get the hood open...

First Haircut

Miriam has beautiful strawberry blonde hair that was getting so long that not only were her ponytails drooping, but her hair was constantly getting into her eyes. Consequently, she had her first trim this weekend. Aunt Kelsey, Miriam's fashion consultant, did the honors. She took a bit off the back to create a short bob and added a little fringe in the front for some bangs. We love it because it is such a fresh Spring look. It's absolutely adorable, although we had a hard time getting a complete "after" picture. The great cut just makes her feel so free that she can't sit still!

My Favorite Things #2

Thing number two in my "My Favorite Things" series is a website called "The Cosmetics Cop" by a company called "Paula's Choice." A lady named Paula Begoun has studied, analyzed, tested, and critiqued thousands of skin care and makeup products as well as their ingredients. She then rates the product as to whether it works according to its claims, whether there is an ingredient that will actually hurt your skin, and whether it's priced too high for what it does. You can go to her site and look up what her diagnosis is for most makeups and skin care products. She also has her own line of makeup and skin care products. I use and love her daily cleaner, her moisturizer with sunscreen, and her extra strength blemish fighing solution. I don't always agree with her (she doesn't rate my eyeliner pencil very high, but I can't find another I like better). But I always check what she has to say about certain companies or products before I make a purchase. You can read what she has to say at cosmeticscop.com. Empower yourself!