Las Sagradas Escrituras

Nope, I don't speak Spanish. The only other language I speak kinda well is German. Although I spoke the one Spanish line I know quite well today on the phone: "Uno Momento"...I then passed the line over to Jason (el jefe) since he speaks Spanish quite well...

Nope, I thought it would be noteworthy to point out that the Church is coming out with a Spanish version of the LDS Bible! Totally cool in my mind...

It is especially cool to me, because my ancestor was the first one to translate a part of the Book of Mormon into Spanish under the direction of President Brigham Young.

This has been quite the undertaking, and I know that it will truly benefit millions of members of the Church. I think it's cool that the Church is announcing this now, when it won't actually be published until September. It gives members time to save their money so they can purchase their own copy.

Fasting...

So it's Fast Sunday.

I decide I want a nice light dinner. Maybe fruit, veggies and bread w/butter and honey (would've done toast, but alas that is one of the appliances we lack in this house).

Problem: no bread in the house. Yeah, none.

Solution: make bread.

Really, not that difficult for me, I actually enjoy making it. It would keep me occupied until I could break my fast anyways...and it's not like I am going to go sneaking a taste of bread dough...yuck...

I decided to modify and make rolls instead.

What I really wanted was some sorta warm fresh out of the oven bread (rolls count) with butter and honey...I could've done without the fruit and veggies tonight...

Problem #2: Roomie has to make all kinds of yummy appetizers (yummy as in smells sooooooo good...especially on an empty stomach that has to wait until dinnertime) for YW presentation tonight...

Solution #2: Well, actually, more like blessing #198739486938748374987593846...NAP so that I don't have to go crazy smelling all the lovely smells coming from the general direction of the kitchen...and then roomie invites me over to her parents house for their family dinner

...and guess what her Mom made? That's right, rolls...nice, big, lovely, fluffy, yummy, fresh out of the oven, oh so wonderful rolls...I am counting it as a tender mercy...

No honey, but that's totally okay...the rest of the meal was simply fantastic!

Welcome Spring...

NOTE: if you are squeamish around bugs, don't scroll down...

As many of you are quite aware, spring is in the air! (Hey, that rhymed, and I didn't even try!)

In the air...as in there is pollen EVERYWHERE (I am on a roll!)

Along with the warmer weather that most of us have been looking forward to since the beginning of November, come April showers, trees covered in lovely flowers and budding leaves...

and bugs...

Thursday was the first time this year we have had to call the Pest guy over outside of his regular monthly visit. The garage was being taken over by ants...

In the South, we supersize our bugs.

Most of you know moths very well. They are incredibly annoying when they are inside your house. They eat your clothes, they take suicide dives at anything that shines...

Rachel was in the 'other' room (I am not sure what exactly to call the room, it's just kinda there) reading her book while I was watching 'For The Love Of The Game' on TV since I haven't seen that movie in a REALLY LONG TIME. She kept hearing a scratching sound at the back door. So after a while she lifted up the screen and found this little guy:

Or should I say this big guy:

I think I blinded him with my flash...or maybe I dazzled him...maybe he was on the road looking for the brightest possible light to dive bomb at, and when I took the flash he thought he found it...

I was amazed at how well he took the abuse of getting his picture taken...


Looks like a greyed out butterfly, doesn't it?


I wish I had a better camera...the attempt here was to show this guys antennae! In the Lord of the Rings, when Gandalf talks to the moth, I was amazed by the fuzzy looking antennae...I guess I had never noticed that about moths because they were too small to see...

Sleep...Small World...

I slept in.

I know, my doctor isn't going to be happy with me. It's not my fault that the bottom fell out of the sky two nights in a row. Hard to sleep when the rain is hitting your window so erratically. Seriously, I don't know how my roommate slept through the storm that hit at 4am Thursday morning...it sounded like Hurricane Katrina all over again...

Oh, but it felt so good to sleep in today. I love having a 4 day week at work. And I really am such a night owl...read, watch movies, talk on the phone if I can get anyone to...

///////////////////////////////////////////////

I am absolutely amazed at how small a world this is. I know I recently wrote a post on this, but how in the world do people find my blog??? I have tried a number of searches on google, and I just don't see how they found it! Unless you search 'amazing music theorist' (which is quite misleading because I am NOT) I just don't see how they find it.

Suddenly I seem to have a few fans from Las Vegas...totally nuts...

New Discovery...Confession...

There is this LOVELY website called Pandora. I had never heard of it. I simply searched 'online radio' and it was one of the first options and the only one that looked like it wouldn't download a bunch of viruses onto my laptop.

www.pandora.com

It is pretty freaking cool. You type in a song title OR a group/performer name and the website will create a playlist of songs using that song or that group as a guide. If you don't want to just listen to that style of music, there is a button called 'add variety' that you can click on and type in another song title or group/performer name. If you don't like a song that comes up, you can click on the thumbs down and it will veer away from that song.

For example: I type in Michael Buble.

I got in addition to Mike the following: Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Norah Jones, Fred Astaire, Ray Charles and a number of others...

I wanted some variety, so I clicked on 'add variety' and typed in Muse (a new found favorite Rock Band, LOVE Supermassive Black Hole, fabulous bass line in it).

In addition to Muse, I got Incubus, Radiohead and a lot of other bands.

Later in the day I added Rob Pattinson (explanation below) and that added performers like Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson and a bunch of people I didn't know.

One of the many things I enjoyed today from listening to my personalized radio station is some clarification. A song would come up that I already knew but I didn't know who sung it or what the name of it was. So I would take a look at the site, and the Name of the Song, the Group/Performer and the album which it could be found on was listed WITH a picture of the Album cover. LOVE IT.

Another lovely attribute of this website was discovering groups/performers whom I had never heard of before and finding that I liked their songs as well.

Check it out, it's pretty cool. You can even find Mormon Tabernacle Choir on there. (NO, I did NOT listen to them at work...I was just curious and looked)

///////////////////////////////////////////////

(More like 'Confessions')

I like Twilight. I was given the book for Christmas by my BFF Becky. She took me to go see the movie before I read the book.

It had a lot of things going for it in my world.

I LOVE vampires. Yes, Elizabeth, Molly Mormon, loves Vampires. I read Dracula when I was in Elementary school. I don't think my Mom knows that. I was a pretty avid reader when I hit 3rd grade. Instead of Goosebumps, I went for autobiographies and classics, including Dracula. But I remember liking vampires when I was even younger...when I lived in Idaho (2-7 years of age) I remember trying to get the neighbor boys to pretend to be vampires...they decided they would rather play tag...

I LOVE baseball...:)

I love the heroine's name, Isabella. It's derived from mine (Elizabeth) and I just think it's pretty...and I like that she goes by Bella.

There are other things that I like about both the book and the movie, but those are a few...

Yes, I bought the DVD Saturday at Target. And I have watched EVERYTHING on all 3 DVD's except for watching the movie w/ the commentary. I was sick all weekend so I went ahead and filled my head with Twilight.

NO, that is not how I became a fan of Muse. I became a fan before I realized that Supermassive Blackhole was the song played during the Baseball game. I do remember loving that scene when I first watched the movie, though...

Rob Pattinson (the actor who plays Edward) is actually an incredible musician. That really is him playing the piano. He really can play the piano (yay!)

The director asked him to record a couple of songs, and she ended up using two of them in the movie. I liked the songs, so I of course added his name to my Pandora list. :)

Pollen...Cakes...

As promised, pictures of what Elizabeth is suffering from:

You can see tracks in the parking garage from cars driving on all the pollen that is on the ground...
...you can see it on your car...

...especially when you live in the South and due to the high humidity you wake up to a completely wet car...and the pollen makes your car look...well...interesting...when you turn on the windshield fluid to help clean, the water is completely yellow...disgusting!!!

Good news! Finally on a medication that works!! I am so grateful for modern day medical innovations...I felt a million times better today, so hopefully tomorrow with it being the second day of medication AND rain in the forecast, Elizabeth will be good as new.

//////////////////////////////////////////

So I have seen a couple of pretty cool looking cakes recently, and I just wanted to share.

This picture is from Dana's birthday bash. I moved in with her and her husband soon after I came to Alabama.

Yes, they are big LSU fans...and that chocolate cake was absolutely AMAZING!

lol, this is what happens when a little girl goes unnoticed for a while around a bright-colored frosted cake...

This is the cake that we ordered today for my boss's birthday. Doesn't that just look awesome!? The only problem was that the frosting was too sweet. It needed whipped frosting...

Sick...Gladys Knight...

Allergies + Tonsilitis + Lack of Sleep = unhappy Elizabeth

Really, I do not feel good at all. It just keeps getting worse, and I am on an antibiotic AND Claritin AND Nasonex...

Allergies in the South really stink. I mean, there is so much pollen, you can see a layer of it on your car in the morning. My car is normally a very pretty and sparkly crimsony/maroony red...in the morning it looks orange with all the pollen that is on it. I will take a picture, because many of you are from out west and have no idea what I am talking about. It's nuts...

/////////////////////////////////////////////

I went to the Gladys Knight Fireside/Devotional/Performance/I am not sure what to call it to be honest with you...

It was AWESOME...from a musician stand-point it was great. I took my coworker and she invited some of her family to come along with her. All of them LOVED it and wished they had brought others with them (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). My coworker, she loved it so much, she asked for tickets for one of tonights showings, which lucky me, I was able to get 4 tickets for the 5:00pm. She is taking her husband and some other family members.

It talks a LOT about the Gospel, and it was just really cool. The Spirit was SO strong.

:) AND there is this REALLY good looking and TALL guy in that choir...and I did notice he didn't have a ring...and I know that he is taller than me because I was totally wearing 3 inch heels and he walked right past me and he still was a good couple of inches taller than me...

My coworker made fun of me for checking out that guy because we were at Church...what better place to meet a guy? And hey, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want me married too! :)

Nope, there was no meet and greet afterwards...:(

But it was just plain and ordinary AWESOME...

Softball!!!

I would just like to announce that Elizabeth has joined a softball team. I haven't played softball since I was, what, 11 years old? I am SOOOOOOOOO excited!!!

No, none of you have ever known me to be sportsy AT ALL...note title of my blog...I am a musician...but it's important to be healthy, and two nights a week and it works around the schedule I already have...AND IT'S SOFTBALL...

And we are going to have a fantastic team...we are totally gonna get a trophy...:)

I can hit the ball. I don't do home runs, but I can get on base (at least I used-to-could). I can catch. With practice, I will have a good arm.

I can't slide. I never was able to.

Don't worry, I have insurance! :)

Calling...

I just realized tonight that I am going to have NO life until after July. Pre-Camp, Seminary Graduation, Girl's Camp and Youth Conference...AND there are all the meetings, gathering of registration forms, money money money, agendas, excel databases, etc...AND the multi-stake dance, ward conferences, General Young Women's Broadcast, etc...

:) It's going to be awesome though. Totally worth it.

It's a good thing I don't have a boyfriend right now...cause if I did, I might have to break up with him just so that I could work on my thesis...now is not the 'appropriate time in life'...

(BTW, I am sleeping through the night, two nights of 7 1/2 hours, so, so far so good...haha, I feel like some of my friends blogs where they report quite often how long their baby is sleeping, except I am reporting about myself... :) )

A New Leaf...the End of the Tale...

In the last, oh, say 60 hours, I have had a total of 4 hours of sleep. Yes, that's right, FOUR.

Not by choice.

My nightly routine: jammies, brush teeth, wash face, read, and when I get tired shut off the light...

...that is when the problem begins. I hit the pillow, and I am wide awake. And I just lay there. So I get up, read, get tired, hit the light, lay down, wide awake...rewind, repeat, rewind, repeat...

Last night...yeah, no sleep...at ALL...not even a wink...I did finish A Tale of Two Cities last night, however...actually, more like 'finally!!!'...I was 6 pages from the end of the book when my alarm went off this morning...

...it is an awful experience hearing your alarm go off and knowing that normal people would be waking up to theirs, while mine was just a reminder that it was time to pray, shower and go to work...

Dr. Pepper was the drink of choice to get me through the morning at work today...breakfast of champions, yes, I know...I did have Honeynut Cheerios as well...

This is an ongoing problem. I am as good at falling asleep as I am at understanding how tennis scores work (seriously, so confusing and frustrating to me)

...I sleep fine. In fact, I sleep like a baby for the most part. No snoring or anything. It's the falling asleep part that still alludes me.

I am now under the care of my sleep doctor at work now. He wants me to try something for the next couple of days...and this something includes no more sleeping in...that is going to be an adjustment...but if it means getting 7 hours a night...EVERY night...it'll be worth it...right???

//////////////////////////////////////////

Like I mentioned, I finally finished the book. It took until the end of the second book (it's divided into 3 books) for me to get hooked. Very interesting. I like how all the characters cross paths in ways you don't really expect. I really like the character of Sydney Carton. I like how the doctor changes throughout the book and his role in the third part of the book.

I don't like the French Revolution. I think the American Revolution was a much better revolution...by far.

Bed time... :/

In Love...Temple

No, I am not in a relationship. Believe me, if I had a boyfriend, there would be a HUGE post about it. More like a bunch of posts, actually...

I was going on dates pretty consistently with a guy out here, but we never became a couple, and whatever we did have seems to have died. Haven't heard from him in...gosh, over a month now...

Why did it die? I don't know to be honest with you...oh well. Yes, I am disappointed. I liked him, he seemed to be a really great guy...

Anyways...

No, I just popped over to www.michaelbuble.com



:) It's like the feeling I get when I eat warm and gooey chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven with milk...yummy...

According to wikipedia (which we all know is TOTALLY reliable) he is unattached...seriously, he has the whole package, tall, gorgeous, incredibly successful, sportsy (he is part owner of a hockey team in Canada...!!!) AND his voice is like butter...

I am determined. Next time he goes on tour, I AM GOING!!!

I am trying to come up with a cute way of saying that I would love the opportunity to attempt flirting to converting, but the phraseology just wasn't coming to me...but I would LOVE the opportunity...:)

//////////////////////////////////////////////

I wasn't going to do baptisms last night at the temple. I was going to do a session or maybe even initiatory. But then I wandered over to the new family search website during the day yesterday and I remembered that I reserved a few of my ancestors to get their work done...and I hadn't done it yet...

So I got the page up, I just had to hook my laptop up to the printer and print off the Ordinance Request sheets...

I left without them...I was 2 miles down the road when I remembered. Now, I left a bit early, but it was raining, so I decided that I would just keep going and bring them next time I went to the temple.

Then I remembered something absolutely essential for going to the temple...that was still sitting in my room...so I turned around, printed out the sheets, grabbed the essential item, and drove like a madwoman to the temple...

3 women in my ancestry are now in Paradise. :) I can't wait to get the rest of their work done. I think I will wait to get any sealing ordinances done until I am home so that I can get my parents and sister and brother-in-law involved.

This was a first. I have been a family history worker before, and I couldn't find ANYONE that hadn't had their work done. I LOVE the new familysearch!!! It makes it REALLY easy to find people that haven't had their work done. If I remember correctly, one of the women is actually a great-great-great-great-great aunt or something like that who never had any children...I know I search each family to see if there are situations like that, because if they never had any kids, there isn't a direct descendant of theirs on the earth that will get the work done for them.

It felt good. I look forward to doing that again. :)

Surprise! :)

Friday morning...which means the ringer on my phone is turned OFF...no alarms, no texts, no phone calls. Thursday night is the one night that I do that.

I wake up and there is a message on my voicemail. My cousin Scott and his family are moving back to Arizona...which is awesome...but I am sad because they aren't here in the South with me anymore.

Anyways, he and his brother Steven were driving the cars out to Arizona and it turns out their route was taking them through my town! So we had lunch at Full Moon BBQ.

Steven...

And Scott (wearing his favorite shirt) and I...with what's left of my double chin...believe it or not, I have lost 3 MORE pounds...

...I call this his Jones look...Jones is his son who always has this look on his face when I take a picture of him...here is Jones:

See? :)

I was so glad they thought of me and that I don't work on Fridays so I could meet up with them! It was great to visit with them. And it was great to feel really short...when I am so far away from my family, I forget the feeling...I LOVE my cousins...

Finally!!

Nope, not the edited post...

Confession: For a long time I wanted to see a billboard advertisement get changed. I have never seen it happen. Silly desire, I know.

It was fulfilled today!

I sit in a room for the greater part of the morning and call patients to remind them of their appointments. This gives me a great deal of time to look out the window. I have a great view of Bryant-Denney Stadium and most of the University of Alabama. There is a double-billboard outside my window that changes advertisements pretty regularly and it fascinated me that I never saw the 'change' take place.

As I am calling the patients this morning, I thought I saw a guy peeking over the top of the billboard. He disappeared, so I wondered for a long time if I just saw a really fat bird that looked like a guys head...then he reappeared. He started rubbing this large moplike thing against the billboard, and for a while I thought he was cleaning it, which didn't really make any sense to me but whatever. Suddenly there were two guys removing the old advertisement (you can see it laying on the ground at the bottom of the above picture) and then as the old advertisement was being lowered, the guy who was on the stand started putting up the new one (you see them just starting to center the new advertisement on the above picture). Yes, I was a bit excited.

This is the real view from the computer I work on most mornings.

You can kinda see the new advertisement being unfolded over the old one...it's an advertisement for a beer, the bottle is on the right, and there are two people that look like they are jogging on the left of the ad...if you are a bit confused at that, you are not alone...the middle of the ad show that the beer only has ninety-some calories in it and a very low amount of carb's...so they are trying to say that it is healthy for you to drink...especially if you are jogging...I can just see it now, they are going to start handing out JUI's...jogging under the influence...

Post...

Dear Blog-followers:

I apologize if your blogroll shows a post on my blog from last night...I did make a post, and then I decided to delete it because I wanted to edit it. I do not know any way besides making this post to remove that post from your blogroll.

I am not sure if I will get to editing this week or not. MAYBE tomorrow, but I just realized that I am feeding the missionaries tomorrow (I thought it was Thursday, but tomorrow works out FAR better) and I have some last minute planning and cooking to do...

I have been busy because I had to take my car to the body shop this week...not a big deal, just taking up time...no, I didn't get into ANOTHER accident, thankfully. A friend just rubbed his car against mine and messed up the bumper slightly. I do find it amusing that it happened pretty much exactly a year after my accident...okay, accidents...last year. :)

Car is now fixed and BEAUti...wait, well, they didn't wash it because the paint has to set for a couple of days, but I am taking it in next week and they are going to detail it for me...YAY!!! They don't charge extra for it or ANYTHING...I am totally doing a full entry as an advertisement for this place once I have pictures of pretty car...

Much love,

Elizabeth

Temple...Food...Happy...Bowling...

Computer...being...weird...okay, fixed it!

This is a montage of pictures from the last 4 days. Enjoy.

This is me trying to be a little artsy at the temple today after Bessemer Ward Conference. It didn't last long...
I don't mind that shot...I just wish the tree had flowers on it...

This shot would've been fabulous...if it was straight...and I hadn't cut off Moroni's head!
The clouds were doing cool things today. Very pretty.

One of the stupid things I love about my current vehicle is that it has a temp reading. I like it. Especially lately, since it has been showing this! Flip-Flop season is OFFICIALLY here...I really need to save money for a PEDICURE!!!

I was hungry.
Low on cash.
And this is what I had.
I don't know what to call it, but it was good. Just needed butter and more pepper. Yay for squash and brown rice.

So we (the YSA) went to watch...
...the One Pin Wonders...
...(that's why they are called the One Pin Wonders)...
...bowl. It was a wonderful social event. :) (Notice, Lindsey, there is more than just a Book of Mormon space between them, so no worries...we actually tried to get them to pucker up and do a fake kiss picture, but Cody would have none of it...he is quite devoted...)

Oh, yes, I was there too.

We didn't win, but we still had a smile on our faces...

Around the World...and Funny

K, so if you scroll down to the very bottom of my blog, you will find a visitor's map.

I like it. I look at it almost everyday. Most places that pop up on the map are totally understandable...for example, pretty much every hit you see that is from the state of Arizona is family, minus two...actually three right now. I know who is checking out my blog from Panama, Albuquerque, Los Angeles, etc...

What I find even more intriguing are the hits from places like Moscow (as in Russia) which I got yesterday, and Switzerland which was last week. WHO in the world is checking out my blog from there? I have gotten numerous places in South America, a hit or two from Africa, sometimes Australia...I don't think I have ever gotten a hit from Asia...hrmm...but they are all just random hits.

And then, there is Deland, FL.

Yes, whoever you are that is from Deland, FL. I have noticed you check out my blog everyday. I have NO idea who you are, but I have noticed you seem to be very interested in my blog...

I used to have an avid follower from Oregon, but he/she went away. Perhaps the Oregon follower is now the Deland, FL follower...

Am I concerned about stalkers? No, not really. Perhaps I should be. I have had one before, at ASU, and that did scare me at the time, but luckily I was surrounded by lovely and numerous priesthood holders all over the campus, so I was fine. And I am friends with Heidi, and as you can see from THIS blog post of hers, you don't want to mess with her...:)

/////////////////////////////////////////////

LINK

Discovery of this video made on Noel's blog. I enjoyed it VERY much.

Forgot About This...

So I TOTALLY forgot about these pictures! Since it is WELL past the wedding, I have no qualms putting up these pictures of oh so beautiful, gorgeous, darling, sweet, fabulous sister. These are the wedding dress shopping pictures. SO glad she came to Arizona and involved me in this part of her wedding planning. :)

Pretty, lots of lace...

Gosh, she is so pretty. She could make a potato sack look good on her I think.

Cool train, huh?

But alas, not the one. It had too much going on...

This one, I have to admit, was my FAVORITE...I mean, look at that...

Seriously, quite lovely. But no, not the one.

This one was nice as well...


But wait...
So Emily practically went crazy-go-nuts when she saw this dress...

Like any girl would, she had already spent a great deal of time online looking for a dress. From the moment she laid eyes on this dress online she liked it. Showed-it-to-Ison-and-everything liked it.

And then she put it on.

Yeah, it suited her. She was quite splediforously GORGEOUS in this dress at the wedding. And it totally fits her personality. AND she got a fabulous deal on the dress, since we bought it in June. Seriously, if you want to find a wedding dress for a good deal, buy it in June at Arizona Bridal Warehouse. She got a skirt (one of the slightly poofy ones), a tiara...and something else that I can't remember for free with it.

K, sorry, it's sideways, I know now NOT to take videos with my camera sideways...just turn your laptop over or turn your head...this is just too cute...

Caught My Eye...

You ever breeze through a newspaper or a website just casually looking at the headlines to see if there is anything that looks interesting?

This did...

Inaugural YouTube Symphony Orchestra Finalized

What I want to know is, how come I didn't know about this?

//////////////////////////////////////////

I am up FAR TOO LATE...better post tomorrow...maybe...

Amusing...

I wore flip-flops yesterday...Testimony

...and this is what it looked like today:



...here is more proof that it really did snow here in the Deep South:

No flip-flops for Elizabeth today... :(

//////////////////////////////////////////

So I bore my testimony today. I haven't done that here in at least 6 months, which is odd cause I used to get up there every other month...

Well, I have a pet peeve...testimonies are for sharing your testimony of the Savior...

Guess what...I mentioned the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, President Monson, the Priesthood, the fact that I am sealed to my family, a little bit about how awesome our youth are...yeah, I forgot to say anything about the Savior in my testimony...except the fact that I want to be more like President Monson because he is so Christ-like.

So I was really upset with myself.

Then I looked at the closing hymn...it was "I Know That My Redeemer Lives". I was the chorister today...:)

I counted it.