My Finer Moments

A little over a semester ago, Colin and I were enrolled in the same Environmental Science course.
(I have a sort of underground interest in environmental science, quasi-intentional pun.)

For a day or so, we'd been discussing levees, which are basically artificially heightened riverbanks to prevent flooding. (But don't quote me on that-- like I said, it was a more than a semester ago!)

Naturally, I had a question about the real-life applications of the concept. I raised my hand. Colin knew what was coming and shook his head.

"What does it mean," I inquired, "if a levee is dry?"

"I'm not quite sure what you're asking," our professor responded. "Does the book mention that somewhere or--?"

"No, just hypothetically speaking, what would it mean if you took your Chevy to a levee, but the levee was dry?"

VALID QUESTION. Am I right?

Our professor was just surprised we were familiar with such an old song. But she didn't know the answer, so opened it up to the amused class.

One guy, who had spent some time working at an auto shop or something of the sort, said that there's a car part that's sometimes called a "levee" and if it's dry then you're out of oil. We accepted that as a plausible answer.

But I have been unable to find any support of his hypothesis online, and consequently reject it.

Maybe the river itself was just dried up?

Caroling!

Tonight a family in our ward invited my family over to sing Christmas songs.

I thought this was a bad idea.

"Don't they know," I asked my mom, "that our family doesn't sing?" (at  least not well)

But it ended up being a lot of fun. "What we don't have in skill," my mom told them, "we make up for in volume."

Ben brought along his viola, Rebekah brought her cello, and Lindsay, her violin.
Each played along for at least one song, and Nick played a few songs on the cello as well.

And then we ate cookies!

And we wanted to pawn off the extra cookies (leftover from Friday's reception), so we went off to sing a song for some friends!
We opened it up with "O Hanukkah!" and closed with "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."

It was a good time.

Michigan Reception

Katie had some more wedding festivities shortly after I got home!

This was the only wedding event that my family really planned, and I just loved it so much more! There wasn't a fear of treading on anyone else's toes. We could make contributions and suggestions and got to help decorate and get everything ready without it being a chore.

I MADE THAT ARCH. It is so pretty.

And during the reception I kept busy talking! I felt like I was holding down the reception line at the back of the room! I found out afterwards that many of the guests were awkwardly curious about my relationship status with Colin, since it was my older sister's reception and Colin and I have been dating for awhile. Just wondering if the next reception is around the corner but afraid to inquire directly, I guess!

I DJ'd the music off of my iTunes and felt like a playlist pro. Plus hanging out and dancing with the sibs was a party. Bekah got a little camera happy, the little narcissist (with good reason, I suppose-- she's a looker!), so we do have a photographic record of quite a bit. I swear I'm eating in every photo, though!

Just embarrassing ourselves, pretty much.

All to amuse our mother.

Like I said, eating in all the photos.

Ryan wants to be a bridesmaid. He's on top of it.

We needed our hands free to help put chairs up. Easy solution.

Yup, Ryan's a bridesmaid. Initiation.

Thoughtful

Colin gave me the best Christmas present and I am so excited about it.
He came up with a theme.
And then found three presents with three different purposes.
The first, just for fun.
The second, to be useful.
The third, to show charity.

The first was the board game SCRABBLE. But this version lets you lock in the letters so that they won't slide around. And he promised to play with me. SCORE.

Have you guessed the theme?

The second present I am still geeking out over. It is "The Dictionary of Word Origins" and I am absolutely thrilled. I mentioned last year that I wanted an etymological dictionary, but had totally forgotten about it until sending my mom a Christmas list three days ago. BUT HE REMEMBERED! And I can't wait to read that reference book cover to cover.

NOW have you figured out the theme?

The last gift is a $20 donation (from his bank account, in my name) to an organization that teaches Afghan girls how to read.

Enough Said.

Secret Santa Shopping

So I picked a little sheet of paper out of a basket.
Female.
Age 3.
Size 4/5.
Likes Dora.
Loves green.

And I was so very excited to play Santa.

Colin felt some sort of affinity with a fifteen year-old male in need of a good razor. Unsure as to why that would be....

So Colin took care of his gift pretty quickly. 

And then we went to the little girls' clothing area. And found all sorts of bundles of adorable. And I just put them all in the cart because "We could decide later."

But we weren't having much luck with green... or with Dora. And I figured we had better at least check out the toys.

And there were baby dolls. And baby doll stroller. And what three year old doesn't love a baby doll? But... What if she already has one? Not that you can have too many, but still. I spent probably an hour trying to figure out what assortment to give. I was exceedingly disappointed that WalMart didn't have any good tutus.
So I got her a 12-piece Dora puzzle, a Dora PJ set, and a pair of green stretchy pants.

And now I really want a three-year old to shop for all the time. So my sister should have a baby, pretty much. Three years ago. 

To Do List

1. Short research paper due tomorrow for Info Lit. Haven't started.

2. Fix layouts for Yearbook ASAP.

3. Write copy for Yearbook by Wednesday.

4. Research for paper presentation on the Vatican in WWII due Friday. And then write the paper. Final draft due Monday. Spies and Conspiracies.

5. Clean up memorization/rehearse for final scene due Friday, Acting I. Find monologue.

6. Is Petrarch's Secret humanist or Christian? Paper due Thursday.

7. Another draft of profile for Expository Writing due tomorrow.

8. Clean the upstairs bathroom. Cleaning checks Tuesday evening.

OH DEAR.

Just a Dream

Last night I had a dream that I was really good at singing. Everyone was so surprised and it was just lovely. I wish I had a pleasant singing voice.