Coloring my world

In efforts to thwart my Provo boredom and numb myself from my undesirable situation, I've been spending lots of time with new people met in random ways. (For me, happiness here takes work.)

It's been really wonderful, and even though I won't be here for much longer, I'm one of those people who always wants to keep in touch with people I have come to love here.

I'm remembering when I felt and looked like this over the summer, and right about now I wish I were in New Hampshire playing tennis, waterskiing, and listening to Stevie Wonder on repeat...ah, summer days of yore...

Anyway, thanks to friends old and new, near and far, for coloring my world vibrant.
I love you all.

photo via here via siovhan

For my beloved newsroom nerds

I wouldn't have made it through the Provo experience without my Brimhall building buddies.

Alliteration aside, Comms kids are the coolest on campus.


With thanks to @hugasponge...I think these should be required 321 uniform.



Shop here.

Nice work, guys

Way to go, Cougs.

University Avenue blew up moments after the game was over, and didn't stop for at least 2 hours.

Awesome.

Provo Farmers Market

Sure, it's not the Greenmarket, but this is a pretty impressive line-up for this weekend!

Fresh from the farm: tomorrow is the last chance to buy asparagus for the year! Plus Ralph Steele is bringing assorted breeds of baby chicks for your backyard coop! goat cheese and yogurt, all natural Utah lamb, fennel, oregano, bok choy, carrots, rhubarb, spring onions, parsley, arugula, salad mix, swiss chard, eggs, mint, grass fed beef, duck/goose/chicken eggs, honey, spinach, watercress, garlic chives, and beet greens.

Shop: Dresses and skirts, hand made buckets and brooms, hand bound books, jewelry, soaps, lotions.

To eat: Chimney Sweets, Flour Girls and Dough Boys, Papa's Tapas, Big Jake's Donuts, Alex's Belgium Waffles, Navajo Tacos, Asian Market, Italian meatballs, pies, and more

To plant: sego lily bulbs for xeriscaping, native wildflower seeds, thornless blackberries, jerusalem artichokes, lemon cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, raspberry and strawberry starts, ground covers, lambs tongue, aloe vera, herbs, basil, heirloom tomatoes, and more.

Music: The Utah Ramblers


Saturday
9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Pioneer Park
(100 South, 500 West)

www.provosfarmersmarket.com

Remember - shopping local is not only fresh and delicious, but a great way to reduce your carbon footprint.

See you there!

The "foodie" language

I might have suspected it from the stalks of rhubarb lying around.
Or the cooking wine in the fridge.
Or all the pots and pans on the stove, perched for action.


But for some reason, these clues completely evaded me as I left my new apartment the other afternoon.


Then, when I returned later, I was cutting into some delicious triple-creme cheese and peeling off sheets of prosciutto di parma to put in my bean salad...it was late and I had just returned home, having not eaten much all day...and I, not thinking very straight and trying to break the awkward silence with my new roommate, declared my love for cheese.

She laughed, then agreed with me...then she asked me detailed questions about all my food that was lying around, which prompted me to frankly ask her,

"Wait, wait, wait a second...



are you.....



a foodie?"



Her eyes widened, as if I had opened the pearly gates of epicurean wisdom.

"You know what that means?!"

I speak her language. She speaks mine.
Finally, someone in my life with whom I can shoot the breeze about reductions and coulis and compotes!

Then she offered me some vanilla bean rice pudding with poached rhubarb made from scratch, straight from the pages of Food & Wine.
um...
A) rhubarb is my favorite thing in possibly the entire world (to follow up in a later post), and
B) I'm mostly Danish and rice pudding is Denmark's specialty.

Heaven!

Not to mention, WHO in their 20s actually cooks from food magazines. Personally, my "cooking for one is a hassle" excuse reduces me to a laziness of salivating over the pictures. In short, what I eat could be seen as eclectic antipastis of whatever I'm craving du jour...usually from Costco staples (pesto, parmesan cheese, kalamata olives) filled in with the more perishable (mesclun greens, chicken, fruit etc).
i.e. a little marinated artichoke + a little cheese + a little fruit = dinner

Well, the next day, she 'whipped up a little risotto' (read: fresh asparagus and mint boiled to flavor a stock to stir into the risotto with fennel. Did I mention we're in college? Don't worry, I found the recipe)....
and contemplated aloud driving to Salt Lake to try macaroons at a new bakery.

We will be starting cooking nights soon. I'm jazzed.
If you're in town, please come over!

Photo: Food and Wine

So yes, my roomie is a foodie, and I couldn't be more excited.

Summer re-shaping

Remember this post?

Yeah, well...DC is a no-go this summer. In a nutshell:

The recession is so real, it even refuses my slave labor.

Yes, even though the BYU internship program I was working with assured me I would not have to submit more than 12 applications, I slyly applied for another 10 behind their backs. And good thing, because I only received one offer (from MY OWN said sly shenanigans, mind you).

But that offer fell through.

But you can bet all the ice cream I ate today that it's really OK. It wouldn't have bolstered any graduate school application, nor given me any portfolio-building material.

Who said beggars can't be choosers!

July and August will still find me whisked off to the East Coast, just in time to see the 4th of July parade down Main Street in the darling lake town where my fam vacations.

Americana at it's Yankee-est.
Also, you may find me on the couch of my Park Slope cousins getting some NYC fix. Mmm.

So yeah, me, instead of gunning it like I usually do with any freelance/internship work I can scrounge up, I'm going to be taking 8 credits of school and kicking it at King Henry during May and June, spending hours at Seven Peaks in their aptly named lazy river.

The only thing that changes about the original summer post is the 1/2 marathon with my cousin, who, as an environment and public policy major at her university, will not be at the massive fam reunion because she'll be doing research in Honolulu.

I know, "research"...yeah ;)

That, and The Lion King.

But never fear, cherry blossoms and the Beltway are still in my near future...just all in due time.

I figure I better enjoy this time in my life before I surrender the meaning of carefree for good.

Maybe I'll actually get tan this summer. Stay tuned, and in the meantime, see you at the pool!

Hottubbing: Provo's bar scene

Since Provo is void of alcohol (minus shady Atchafalaya on Center Street)... I think the totally kosher BYU activity known as "hottubbing" constitutes what would be the bar scene anywhere else.

Think about it...scantily clad girls with the scamming guys, in a steamy environment...totally kosher BYU housing activity.

(BYU also approves hairschoolers to live in BYU housing...but girls can't be in guys apartments after midnight...let's just say "Go Figure" (with accompanying eye-roll and head-scratch) has been the most reoccuring theme of my BYU life.)

Anyway, the totally kosher activity of hottubbing is not without its creepers- you know, the Provo All-Stars who don't have a clear idea of what they're still slinking around UV for (with their BMWs they bought on their parent's dime or from their shady summer APX sales) who come around, hit on girls, and sometimes an ensuing NCMO will occur.

My friends and I learned from the rumors, are nice to these creepers, say our code name for "peace out" to each other, and kindly leave.

I think the only thing that would make 'hottubbing' more interesting would be if the GAs made us gals wear burkinis:

Hare Krishna. Repeat.

Where else can you find 15,000 totally sober, nice Mormon kids at some Hindu festival (that more resembles Woodstock) celebrating diversity?

During the four-hour long festival, we chanted and sang "Hare Krishna" more times than I shampooed and rinsed (and repeated) my hair that evening.

Which is probably why the lead for the SL Trib story is about showering.

(P.S. You can tell how much fun that reporter had writing that story...probably the best kicker ending EVER!)

I wish there were more of this kind of thing around here.

'Sven' and 'Keats.' Freshman friends, now 8 months fresh from Finland and Brazil missons, respectively. Such nice guys.

Roomie 'Rindz' crowdsurfed. 5 times. Still talks about it.

HARE KRISHNA!

The Hipster Hygiene Dilemma

My roomie Rindsey is forever annoyed by the Provo Indie-hipsters...Read this post.

I agree with her on the hygiene elitism part.

There is NO EXCUSE for bad hygiene in the 21st century (see this post where I wax longingly for hygienic Germans).

And vintage clothes are cool and eco-friendly...but you must still WASH THEM: No one is too cool for Tide.

I repeat, no one is too cool for Tide.

Thanks.

Well, I read this on Courtney's blog and was stupefied on how broad the Hipster movement is...

Hmm, that could make the east coast a problem for me, no offense to EC'ers, I looove your coast but some of your fellow Yankees fall behind the hygiene curve.
(And that was not a NYY reference, Sox fans)

is it your old buildings, charming as they are?
abundance of insufficient plumbing?
proximity to the Euros who rub off more of their deodorant-less selves on you than West Coasters (based on sheer distance decay theory)?

DON'T BE OFFENDED-- I'm just brainstorming what even my mom has been stupefied over since her EC collegiate days.


Case in point, I was working out at the NYU gym last summer and I swear, the kid next to me

a) had not showered in 3 long days
b) was wearing a shirt he had previously sweated in (the moldy re-sweat smell)
c) made many people move away from where he was and
d) was oblivious to a, b and c.

Hygiene: looks good on everyone.

On Quitting the LDS Church

I received this FWD the other day:

Preface: In a local newspaper in Provo, Utah, there had been an ongoing series of articles written by individuals who wanted to persuade LDS Church members to leave the Church. In response to the highly critical and spirited remarks, a local member wrote this rebuttal:


Editor:

I have been thinking of quitting the Mormon Church. Yes, if I can, I am going to get even with that church. As soon as I can find another church that teaches about the Gathering of the House of Israel; the return of the Ten Tribes and their mission; the return of the Jews to Palestine and why, and how they are going to build the temple; the building of temples and what to do with them; the mission of Elias, the prophet, as predicted by Malachi; the method for the salvation of the people that died at the time of Noah in the flood; the complete explanation of why Jesus of Nazareth had to have a mortal mother but not a mortal father; the explanation of the three degrees of glory (three heavens) as mentioned by Paul; the complete explanation of why Elias and Moses did not die but had to be translated (since they both lived before the resurrection was introduced by Christ); the restoration of the gospel by modern revelation as promised by Peter and Paul and Jesus himself; the belief in eternal marriage and the family, and the knowledge and the place to seal for eternity; that teaches abstinence from all harmful drugs and foods; and that sells the best fire insurance policy on earth, for the last days, for only a 10th of my income.

Yes sir, as soon as I can find another church that teaches all that, or even half as much, I will say good-bye to this Mormon Church. The church that I am looking for must also be able to motivate 50,000+ youth, and adults, for the first, second or third time, to leave their homes for two years at their own expense and go too far-away places to teach and preach without salary. It must be able to call, on a frosty day, some 5 or 6 thousand professors, students, lawyers, doctors, judges, policemen, businessmen, housewives and children to go and pick apples at 6 a.m. It must be able to call meetings and get the attention for two hours of more than 150,000 men. Yes, it must also teach and show why salvation is assured for children who die before eight years of age.

Mr. Editor, could you help me find a church that teaches all that and more than hundreds of other doctrines and principles, which I have no room to mention here, and which bring solace and comfort to the soul; peace, hope, and salvation to mankind, and above all, that answers the key questions that all the great philosophers have asked; questions and answers that explain the meaning of life, the purpose of death, suffering and pain; the absolute need for a Redeemer and the marvelous plan conceived and executed by Jesus Christ the Savior?

Yes, as soon as I find another church that teaches that, and also that has the organization and the powers to make that teaching effective, I am going to quit the Mormon Church. For I should not tolerate that "they" should change a few words in the Book of Mormon-even if those changes simply improve the grammar and the syntax of the verses-for, after all, don't you think the Divine Church should employ angels as bookmakers, and clerks, to do all the chores on earth? Don't you think, Mr. Editor, that the Divine Church should also have prophets that don't get sick and don't get old and die, and certainly, that don't make a goof here and there. No, sir! A Divine Church should be so divine that only perfect people should belong to it, and only perfect people should run it. As a matter of fact, the Church should be so perfect that it should not even be here on earth!

So, I repeat, if any one of the kind readers of this imperfect letter knows about another church that teaches and does as much for mankind as the Mormon Church, please let me know. And please do it soon, because my turn to go to the cannery is coming up. Also, "they" want my last son (the fifth one) to go away for two years and again, I have to pay for all that. And I also know that they expect me to go to the farm to prune trees, and I have heard that our ward is going to be divided again, and it is our side that must build the new chapel. And also, someone the other day had the gall of suggesting that my wife and I get ready to go on a second mission, and when you come back, they said, you can volunteer as a temple worker.

Boy, these Mormons don't leave you alone for a minute. And what do I get for all that, I asked? "Well," they said, "for one, you can look forward to a funeral service at no charge!"... Do you think you can help me to find another church?

-Thomas D. Clark


(Bless you, Thomas)

Silly Goodies

I've posted the following in hopes your humpday is enlivened.

1)


I stole this from Teen.
We need to BUMP these OUT of Utah, as more poofi-ness is NOT what this state needs. However, if Utah is doomed to stay outdated as it presently is, I may be okay with these if it means the lack of hairspray usage will help the environment (because the quantity in which it is used here is alarming). At EFY, I used to call the girls who ratted their hair like this "tumor-heads," laughed at them and covertly took pictures of their hideousness. They're probably barefoot and pregnant as I type this.


2) Here's last semester's Best of The Daily Universe's Police Beat.
Because we all know it's why people read the DU (that, and Reader's Forum).


3) Stole this from Val's blog:
















4)

Ed Westwick and Helena Christensen in a Harper's Bazaar photo shoot a la 'Mrs. Robinson.' Westwick has said he's the "last of the romantics" (the antithesis of womanizing Chuck Bass). This only makes me fancy him more!














and...


5) Here's a little gem of a video I posted on my Facebook page but thought I'd also share with the blogosphere. Call me a narcissist, but I've watched it probably no less than 200 times to laugh... er, admire how skilled I am (remember, my life is bleaksville and Lipstick Jungle is on hiatus).

It is entitled "Sunday Best."
Enjoy.

A musing a la Carrie B

Once when we were bored in class, Mad and I were note-passing back and forth (the beauty of college, you can pass notes without fear of scolding) and we came to this epiphany on the ubiquitous Provo quickie marriage...to the tune of our favorite superheroine, Carrie Bradshaw.


Is marriage a glorified hookup, a glorified letdown...or justifiably glorified?


We were talking how around UV, we see mainly the first two stated.
Please enlighten us, should you feel so inclined.