Picture of the Day for 3/29/2012. I was at the mall today when I noticed a very bored Easter Bunny as there were no children in line to see her. Poor bunny. At one point, I noticed she* had her head in her hands. I really wish I could have captured that image, but I wasn't quick enough with my camera.
*Even though the bunny was dressed up like a girl, my nieces and I surmised there was a lecherous man inside the suit based on the way the bunny started flirting with us once "she" noticed we were staring at "her."
Picture of the Day for 3/28/2012. Over the course of my job search, enough people have asked me "why don't you start your own company?" that I've begun to take the idea somewhat seriously. Towards that end, I attended a NorthFront* LaunchUp bi-monthly meeting that is geared for "entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, startup junkies, cool people, miscreants, and the occasional lost dog." (Currently, I suspect I fall into the miscreant category.) The event featured several business owners who provided information about their companies along with advice for people hoping to start a business of their own. It was very helpful and interesting. Now all I need to do is come up with a million dollar idea. Any suggestions are welcome.
*"The NorthFront Alliance is an Entrepreneur Association in Northern Utah. It's purpose is to bring entrepreneurs together to learn, network, share ideas, find needed resources, and to recognize accomplishments among the group. The goal is to foster and promote entrepreneurism in Northern Utah. There are approximately 1200 members of the alliance."
Picture of the Day for 3/27/2012. Readers of my blog are aware that I spend a lot of time in Florida- to the point where I'm starting to feel like a true southerner. (I'm legitimately half southern since my mother was born in Louisiana and grew up in Texas.) Now I'm doing things like buying Southern Living magazines and recipe books.
Picture of the Day for 3/26/2012. My niece Chantal came over for a Abraham and Mary Lincoln documentary-viewing/chocolate chip cookie-eating party at my house. It was just the two of us. As you can tell, we have very focused theme parties in my family. That's Chantal's hand holding the DVD. I figured I was lucky to get that much of her in the picture. People are a little leery of me now when I whip out my camera since they know they'll end up (usually unwillingly) on my blog.
Picture of the Day for 3/25/2012. On the way back to Salt Lake City today, my friend Suzanne and I made a detour to Bonneville Point- a spot along the historic Oregon Trail approximately 10 miles east of Boise, ID. While there, we learned there is a scenic* byway that follows the Oregon Trail for approximately 100 miles. The route begins in Glenns Ferry (approximately 75 miles southeast of Boise) and ends at Bonneville Point. As inveterate road-trippers, we soooooo want to drive along this byway someday soon.
*I suspect "scenic" means a largely unpaved road.
Check out this paw print we saw at Bonneville Point. Wouldn't want to run into the creature that made this print. Whatever it was, it had claws. Eek.
And to end on a totally random note, I'm including a picture of a stand of uniformly-spaced trees we saw somewhere in the middle of Idaho. Couldn't tell you exactly where. I just like this image.
Picture of the Day for 3/23/2012. So, how can you tell you're smack dab in the middle of nowhere? You've just eaten at the Wayside Cafe in Heyburn, ID.
And the road you're traveling looks like this...
And the landscape looks like this...
The five-hour drive through the middle of nowhere was totally worth it because this was waiting for us at the end. Aren't they cute?
My friend Suzanne and I drove from Salt Lake City, UT up to Boise, ID to visit our friends Sharla and Jeremiah Means and their twins Lauren and Logan. It's been two years since we've seen them so we were excited for this road trip.
Picture of the Day for 3/22/2012. I was hanging out with my friends Kelly and Mary tonight. I was wearing my hair in a side braid, but it looked a little sloppy. Kelly offered to fix it and made the hairdo look 1,000,000% better than my version.
Picture of the Day for 3/21/2012. OK- I'm kind of cheating today. I'm posting pictures I snagged off of George Takei's* Facebook page. I love these cat posters- they're so snarky and so right on when it comes to cats.
*George Takei is the actor who played Sulu on Star Trek. His Facebook page is a scream. I definitely recommend checking it out.
Picture of the Day for 3/20/2012. I decided to be a little less anti-social than usual and attend the 170th anniversary of the organization of the Relief Society at my church. We had a light dinner and then watched a Mormon film that was produced in 1969 called Johnny Lingo. Every school-aged Mormon child has seen this film and most of us can still quote lines from the movie. It's about a Polynesian community where a man negotiates with the father of his bride-to-be on how many cows he (the prospective suitor) will pay for the wife. Johnny Lingo wants to marry a girl called Mahana who everyone thinks is ugly, including Mahana herself. Her father thinks he'll be lucky to get one cow for her, but to everyone's surprise, Johnny Lingo pays the unheard of price of eight cows. After Mahana and Johnny are married, people are surprised to discover that Mahana has turned into a beautiful woman. Because Mahana's husband valued her enough to pay eight cows for her, she began to see her own worth and blossomed. Most of us in attendance at the party tonight had not seen this film since we were teenagers so it was definitely a trip down memory lane.
Picture of the Day for 3/19/2012. I was working at my laptop today when I happened to glance over at the birdcage (which is situated just a couple of feet away from my desk) and noticed my parakeets were pressed up against the side of the cage* staring me down. Eek. That was a little creepy.
*Sadly, the birds had moved before I was able to take a picture of them pressed up against the side of the cage.
Picture of the Day for 3/18/2012. I saw a production of The Elixir of Love (by Donizetti) today. It's the first time I've seen this particular comedic opera and I was totally charmed by it. Very amusing.
I took this picture as a rebuttal to a friend's comment that "operas are full of too many fat ladies singing." Sigh. As you can see, the female lead (on the far right-hand side of this photo) was not fat at all. In fact, she was quite beautiful.
Picture of the Day for 3/17/2012. I have grand plans (that will probably not come to fruition given my track record of not finishing craft projects) of sewing a summer top. I bought this pattern since it's labeled "easy." It really should be labeled "super duper easy" since the entire pattern consists of just about three pieces. I almost bought the ugliest/loudest fabric for this project. You'd be able to see me a mile away if I were wearing a shirt made of that material. I'm thinking I'll just have to go back to the store on Monday and pick up two yards of it.
Picture of the Day for 3/16/2012. In the continuing "things I've unearthed from my basement" series, here is a picture of a book from my childhood. When I was a little girl, my mother frequently attended library sales and picked up books for me.
You know how I can tell this particular book is mine? My mother CLEARLY labeled it with my name. During my youth, I thought she went a little overboard with the labeling (i.e., this embarrassed the snot out of me), but now it makes me smile to see her handwriting.
I was also glad to see this book since I'm kind of obsessed with all things World War ll-related right now. I've been particularly interested in the recruiting posters by John Falter.
Picture of the Day for 3/15/2012. So, it's my friend Suannze's birthday today. She and I went out to lunch and then shopping afterward. I thought, "Great, I'll be sure to take a picture of Suzanne on her birthday for my picture of the day." Totally forgot. Oops.
Suzanne then invited me along to her birthday dinner with her parents. I was happy to be invited since it's been almost three years since I've seen them. I thought, "Great, I'll be sure to take a picture of Suzanne with her parents on her birthday for my picture of the day." Totally forgot. Dang.
So, the only image remotely related to Suzanne's birthday are these shoes. She dropped by my house before we went to the mall and wanted a new shoe purchase update. The ones pictured above are my only new ones. I'm trying to cut back on wanton shoe purchases since I'm dealing with that pesky little issue of being unemployed and all.
Picture of the Day for 3/14/2012. I've been listening to this recording of South Pacific featuring Brian Stokes Mitchell. My sister Robynne has a HUGE crush on Mitchell and after she showed me YouTube videos of his performances, I immediately had a HUGE crush on him too. Check out this performance of This Nearly Was Mine from South Pacific and I guarantee you'll have a HUGE crush on Mitchell as well. He sings the song with such longing. Sigh.
Picture of the Day for 3/13/2012. Hmm...I may not know much about home maintenance, but I'm pretty sure the siding from my roof isn't supposed to be dangling loose like this. Damn.
Picture of the Day for 3/12/2012. I guess it's pine cone season since the tree in my front yard is full of them. (Notice my keen powers of observation.)
I probably should do something crafty and Christmas-y with all those pine cones, but meh, that would require effort and creativity.
I love how the limbs of the tree kind of resemble a spider's web.
Picture of the Day for 3/11/2012. I attend the same church as my voice teacher, Bonnie Weber. Her husband, David, was VERY proud of the loud green tie he was wearing in honor of the St. Patrick's Day holiday this month. As well he should be. That's a great tie. (Bonnie can be seen lurking in the background.)
Picture of the Day for 3/10/2012. Isabella Pulley, 8-year-old daughter of my friends Jenny and Steve Pulley, was baptized today. I think Bella had a great time with all the friends and family that were in attendance for the baptism and the luncheon that was held afterwards.
Every time I attend a baptism now, I can't help but be reminded of my great-niece Hayley's baptism. She's a quirky* kid and we just knew she'd have something interesting to say. She did not disappoint. When Hayley came up out of the water, she announced in a very loud voice, "That was weird!" A normal family would have been mortified, but we were delighted.
*In our family, "quirky" is seen as a positive attribute.
Picture of the Day for 3/9/2012. In an effort to consume food that has, gasp, actual nutritional value, I'm working on reducing my sugar consumption. I found a good way to get my chocolate fix while avoiding sugar is to drink brewed cocoa. The ground cocoa beans brew just like coffee. It's divine.
Picture of the Day for 3/8/2012. I had dinner at my sister's house last night and my brother-in-law was eager to present me with a 5-disc DVD set commemorating 25 years of NASA that they had found at a local thrift shop. As the ultimate space nerd, I was delighted to be the recipient of these DVDS because one cannot watch too many documentaries about space. (That statement was made without the least bit of irony.)
Picture of the Day for 3/7/2012. Let me preface today's blog entry with the emphatic claim that I am NOT a crazy cat lady. I'm still having fun experimenting with my aura camera app on my iPhone and I wanted to see if Jingles the Cat has an aura. Apparently, he has a blue one which means he has a sensitive nature. He's definitely an enlightened cat. ;-)
Picture of the Day for 3/6/2012. OK- this picture would have been really cool if it had turned out. I flew home to Utah today and it was dark by the time we reached the Rocky Mountains. The snow-capped mountains look really eerie at night from 30,000 feet in the air. Sadly, it was too dark to capture the image and I only ended up with the light at the end of the plane's wing.
Picture of the Day for 3/5/2012. I spent the day at the Billie Swamp Safari on the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation in the heart of the Everglades. Have I mentioned how much I adore the Everglades?
I went on an AIR BOAT RIDE...
...and a SWAMP BUGGY RIDE. The tour guide stopped the buggy, got out, and looked for dog fennel (a natural mosquito repellent) in response to my question about how the Seminoles dealt with the mosquitoes "back in the day." Along the trail, we saw a one-day old colt with his mother.
I attended a show hosted by Hans, the poisonous snake-handler. He showed us a huge Diamondback rattler they had found lurking in the parking lot. Eek.
And at this point my iPhone battery died so I was unable to take any more pictures of the day's adventures.
