I'm an Aunt...again!

My sister Brigitte and her husband Tyler had their baby today, 9:15pm. He is named Logan Christopher Brown, weiging 8lbs, 15oz, 21 inches long. So, I'm an aunt twice over! Yeah for Logan, he's so cute!

Safety Net

I had an interesting conversation with a friend the other day, and I'm going to throw this idea out to others to comment. Dating Awkwardness, it's happened to all of us. That first date, we're not quite sure what to say, what to do. Maybe the 2nd and 3rd dates are a little easier, but that awkwardness of how to act or what's expected or what are we really feeling, is still there for a little while. My friend and I came to the conclusion that this dating awkwardness might be an innate safety net. What would we do if we started dating someone(I'm assuming there is physical attraction and an initial interest in a person before this first date) and immediately hit it off, we'd stick with them. And that works for some people! For some that is how it starts. But for some of us, if that situation occurred, we might just jump at the first guy or girl that came along. I sometimes think that awkwardness is there to keep us from getting involved with someone, too fast. I'm not necessarily saying this from personal experience, just observance. Now, while I'm not a proponent of really LONG dating relationships(come on, we're not going to every find out EVERYTHING about a person before marriage, or even during marriage) I do agree that we should be working towards learning who a person is before joining the big dance. So my theory, awkwardness between men and women in a dating sense, is there for a reason. Thoughts? (I usually don't post these relationship centered blogs, mainly because I usually don't have much to say! But this theory intrigued me yesterday and I saw another's blog which concisely graphed out the relationship between men and women which was interesting, and I don't want to bore readers with what is really on my mind...e-contracts, discharging of duties, consideration...blah, blah business law stuff. I do have that midterm next week though. AAAHHH!)

political landscape

I have been trying to follow the debates and primaries a little more closely than I have in the past. I still don't think I have made a clear choice about who to vote for, but luckily I still have 10 months to figure that out. But I do have to say, and knowing I may offend some, but it's my blog, so deal with it, I am glad Mitt Romney finally won a primary, a MAJOR one (Wyoming counted but not in the same light as the other states.) So we can still move forward, with the opportunity to hear multiple stands on issues and hopefully make a more informed decision. I've never enjoyed it when one person overrules all the candidates. I am of the opinion, that on the whole, the American people are for what is easy. It's easier to just vote for the candidate that gets the most press, or the one who wins the first two primaries, does that mean we need to keep voting for them? No! The idea is to have as much information as possible, to them make an intelligent and informed decision about who will be the best president. I don't care if the candidate is a woman, or black, or Mormon, or Baptist, if you have the best policies and ideas, fine I'll vote for you. But I'm not going to vote for the one guy that everyone (mainly the media) puts up and says, well he must be best, cause he's the frontrunner, or it would be great to have a woman or black or Mormon president finally. That's just candidates and media heads banking on the belief that the American people can't think for themselves, and we allow them to treat us that way by not taking a stand on what we believe.

So I am going to try to find out all I can about the candidates that I can vote for in the upcoming California primary and vote for the best one in MY opinion. It's based on my own intelligent research. It's been interesting to me to find out what I really value in this presidential race. Is it the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, Health Care(I know I'm anti universal), the economy, immigration? I'm trying to find out how I really feel about the issues and then I will cast and informed vote.

So Congratulations Mitt! Way to keep it close and make sure the issues get to the surface!

Katie Holmes wannabe!

A little note on my day today...I walked into work to the lovely sound of crickets chirping. You think, oh, it must be nice to be in San Diego, beautiful day(today it was 70 degrees) crickets chirping. Ahhhh..the crickets were in my office! Somehow, a cricket got into the library ventilation system, and sat right above my desk, in the vent. So, for the whole morning, that's all I've heard. And of course, today had to be the one day I forget my ipod, so no music to block it out! My boss knows about it, but how do you get rid of it. Aren't cricket's night creatures, why is he chirping all day! In any case, you can get him to be quiet when you open the office doors, the draft going through the vents when the doors open apparently scare him enough to get him to stop! So every time someone walks through the door, I sing "hallelujah!" (yes it really is 70 degrees here, today was the perfect beach day, bummer I'm inside, but it has been fabulous to go outside running. This weekend was fantastic and my preparation for a 1/2 marathon was helped, 4 miles at one time down!)

So, I have done a drastic thing. I SOOO needed a haircut. It was getting a little long. I found a picture of a haircut I wanted, but I was almost too chicken to do it. Yup, it's way shorter than I've ever gone before in my life. I have come to realize, that I put a lot of importance on my hair. Why, I guess I'm just vain, but I didn't want to ruin a good thing. If it's not broke don't fix it. But I needed a change, so away I went to the hair salon, with a roommate in tow for moral support. When the stylist pointed to where he thought I wanted it cut, I almost said no and ran. But the roommate fulfilled her purpose in being there, and said yes. After the traumatizing, near crying, experience, I'm pretty satisfied. I have to say, the savings on prep time alone in the morning was worth it. But when I got home, I realized, I think i copied Katie Holmes, who was apparently copying Posh Spice, which wasn't my intent in the first place. But oh well, I'm happy with the results. One little freaky side note, when he pulled out the shaver to go at my neck, I thought, there is a hairline there for a reason, we don't need to make it any higher. It's a weird feeling to be a girl and have an electric blade taken to your neck. Wasn't my favorite.

"Don't Go So Fast!"

I've been home in Concord now for a week and a half for Christmas break and New Years. Happy New Years everyone, yeah for 2008! So I should probably catch you up on what I've done. I got home on Saturday the 22nd, in time to watch BYU beat UCLA, barely, in the Las Vegas Bowl. Go Cougars! The next day, my family participated in the Christmas program in the Cambodian Branch that is a part of our stake. We sang and my sisters sang O Holy Night as well, which I had to play the piano for. The song was supposed to go a little faster than I had been practicing. So, put my fingers on speedy and away we went. Luckily, my mom was playing an organ part with me and that covered the mess ups. My parents ward also had their program, so we sang there also and had to play the aformentioned hard song. Maybe we can record it and put the copy online for all to hear!


Christmas came, we were all here, except for Brigitte and Tyler. Brigitte is due in January, so it would have been a little hard and uncomfortable for her to travel here. Check out mom and dad's blog for a video of Christmas morning, pretty fun stuff. It was a good day, Grandma came over and we opened our gifts. "Santa" was good this year. Of course the life of the party was the cutest niece ever! Shelley, Steve and Mariah came and aren't leaving till the 4th! Almost 2 weeks of baby time! Then I might be babied out! But Omi and Opa have really enjoyed their granddaughter.



So with all my time off, I have put it to good use. We have made headbands for Mariah, I knitted(with a very simple knitting device) a beanie, with another one to be done before I leave, went to the temple, visited friends, played my first game on Wii(Boogie is pretty fun), tried to start running and training for a 1/2 marathon in April(we still will see if I can get up to the mileage I need) and gone out to breakfast a couple times(breakfast is my favorite meal of the day). One fun little incident happened this morning. I went running along some trails when I came up to an older woman walking. As I ran past, she said, with a disgusted and menacing voice, "Don't Go So Fast!" I'm not sure why she was so mad. There was plenty of trail for everyone. I wasn't running her over, she apparently didn't have a good New Years. I continued on down the trail and came across an older gentleman walking towards me. I went to say Good Morning and before I could get it out, he waved his hand and said "Nope," like, don't talk to me, I"m not interested. I was just trying to be polite as I was running and got cut off before any sound could come out! What was the deal with people this morning. But then I came across a couple from my parents ward walking along the trail and they were really nice, so everything was better. Sheesh, some people may have stayed out a little too long this morning and woken up on the wrong side of the bed.

Well, this next year should be good. Only 7 more classes till the paralegal program is done and onto a a new career! It was a great year, with great moments and I'll try to be better about sharing them.

And to quote Brittany last night, at her New Years Eve birthday dinner (yes she and Brigitte were born on NY Eve) "Did it smell like Jalapeno nachos over Kirker Pass to anyone else?" I need to drive by there again!