Picture of the Day for 8/31/2014. I have a doppelganger. My sister Robynne saw this picture of a Salt Lake Tribune columnist and did a double-take. This woman and I definitely resemble each other.
Apparently, I had a doppelganger in college. Several people over the course of my college career commented that they had seen my lookalike wandering around campus. I was disappointed that I never saw her, but maybe that's for the best. Perhaps the fabric of time and space would have ripped apart if we had laid eyes on each other. I always wondered if people told her that they had seen her doppelganger wandering around campus.
Wait a minute...it just occurred to me that this columnist might be the very same doppelganger from college. We're about the same age...
Picture of the Day for 8/30/2014. Surely not! This is too good to be true! Another flight where there's an empty seat next to me! Room to spread out!
On Tuesday it happened on the flight from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Orlando. Today it happened on the flight from Orlando to Dallas/Ft. Worth. Apparently this must not be a very popular route. It's popular with me now. Woo hoo!
Picture of the Day for 8/29/2014. I was at Old Navy earlier this week using a gift card to buy some clothes for my Florida trip. I came across these sandals that are made from flip-flop material. Genius! I love flip-flops and I like sandals with straps around the ankles so I don't have to worry about clenching my toes to keep my shoes on so I decided to buy a pair in black and another pair in white. Oh my word, these are life-changing. I've been wearing them every day of my trip. LOVE them!!!
Picture of the Day for 8/28/2014. Visited the Palm Beach zoo and laughed when I saw this sleeping jaguar. It looks like you should be rubbing its belly, but that would probably be a very, very, very bad idea.
Picture of the Day for 8/27/2014. Don't you just love businesses that have a resident dog? Conchita the Dog greeted me at a little aviation gift shop I visited today and we became friends of course.
Picture of the Day for 8/26/2014. There is no more glorious sight than an empty seat next to you on a plane. This rarely happens on the over-crowded and over-booked flights that have become the norm.
Picture of the Day for 8/25/2014. I found a ridiculously cheap flight/rental car price for Florida so I'm heading out there tomorrow for a quick visit. One of the reasons the flight is so cheap is because it leaves at 6:00 am which means I need to be on the road by 4:30 am to get to the airport on time. In a justified* fit of paranoia, I set not one, but three alarms to go off in the morning. And that's just on my iPhone. I also set another alarm on my iPad for a grand total of four alarms between the two devices.
*I say justified because it actually took all four alarms to get me out of bed. I am soooooooo not a morning person.
Picture of the Day for 8/24/2014. The 4th Sunday of every month is turning out to be my favorite, church-wise. That's when the young woman with the great wardrobe teaches the Relief Society lesson. I usually end up taking a stealth picture of her shoes. Today's shoes are pictured below. You can see previous stealth pictures here and here.
Today was no exception. I coveted her shoes and in fact, I loved how she paired a striped top with a floral skirt. I'd say that I want to be her when I grow up, but that doesn't work since I'm 20 years older than she is. Can I say I want to be her as I grow younger?
Picture of the Day for 8/23/2014. My niece Chantal informed me that she was coming over to my house tonight while her husband was in the neighborhood at band practice. Okey doke.
Chantal and I share a fascination with World War 2 history so she brought over a History Channel documentary that she owns and I've wanted to see. It's called the Third Reich and documents the rise and fall of Hitler's empire. What I find so haunting about it is the home movies that make up a lot of the footage. I wonder who these people where and what their lives were like. This is a complete cliche, but the home movies bring history to life in a way that regular news footage can't.
Picture of the Day for 8/22/2014. My last few posts have been downers so I thought I would post something cheery today. I came across these sunflowers on my morning walk. I love sunflower season!
Picture of the Day for 8/21/2014. I attended my friend Jay William's funeral today. I was smart enough not to wear mascara since I suspected it would just run down my face when, not if, I started crying. Turned out to be a good move since I did cry. A lot. I haven't cried over someone this much since my dad died.
Picture of the Day for 8/20/2014. My dear friend and neighbor, Jay Williams, passed away on Sunday after a 4+ year battle with colon cancer. I am truly heartbroken over this. I know he's glad his ordeal is over with, but it's hard for the family and friends left behind. Jay and his wife Susan have been my home teachers and I've always looked forward to their monthly visits. They have been a real blessing in my life and I don't say that about everyone! I knew they were my kind of people when they laughed at my story of being inadvertently dragged to a strip club in West Palm Beach, Florida and they laughed instead of being shocked. I attended his viewing tonight and let's just say I cried. A lot.
Picture of the Day for 8/19/2014. Do you ever feel like this some days?
Picture of the Day for 8/18/2014. This is a rant of very little consequence, but I'm going to complain anyway. Is it too much to ask that grocery stores carry the unflavored version of Arrowhead's sparkling water? I know it exists as the evidence shows below.
Lately, all I can seem to find are flavored versions. Lemon sparkling water does NOT work for my cocoa/Stevia/sparkling water brew. Just saying. OK- done complaining now.
Picture of the Day for 8-17-2014. I took over 100 "farewell" pictures of the Bear Lake cabin today. I'm not going to post all, most, or many of them. I'm only going to post the one that gave me a real pang. Just by happenstance, I was the last one to drive down the long driveway and away from our parents' cabin. We're leaving behind nearly 40 years of family memories in this location. Very bittersweet. I'm happy I have all those memories of the good times our family shared up there. Now it's time to create new memories and have fun adventures elsewhere.
Picture of the Day for 8/16/2014. My sister Robynne inherited the family cabin on Sweetwater Hill overlooking Bear Lake (Utah), but has decided to sell it. Don't blame her. It's expensive to maintain and needs a lot of repair work. It's a nice retreat, but not the haven it was for my parents who used to go up every weekend during the summer months, especially now that other cabins have cropped up in close proximity. My other sister Paula and I came up this weekend to help Robynne and her husband Will pack up.
Picture of the Day for 8/15/2014. I downloaded the MapMyWalk app to my iPhone to track the route, time, and distance traveled for my morning walks (when I forgo the gym). It's been less than a success. For my most recent walk, it informed me that I had walked 0.13 miles in 40 minutes. I think that translates to 5 shuffling steps per minute. Apparently, the app believes I'm an infirm 95-year-old. That's all a dirty lie! I walked at least 2 miles if not more during that time. And, I can assure you that I'm not an infirm 95-year-old.
Picture of the Day for 8/14/2014. I accompanied my niece and her family to Lagoon (an amusement park for my non-Utah readers).
My great-niece Hayley really, really, really wanted me to go on Rattlesnake Rapids which is a ride where you are absolutely 100% guaranteed to get drenched.
I absolutely 100% did not want to get drenched first thing so I declined.
I absolutely 100% enjoyed seeing everyone else get drenched.
Picture of the Day for 8/13/2014. A neighbor invited me over for lunch today. We see each other at church, but never really get a chance to talk so it was nice to have time for a "real" visit. I had heard she raises chickens so I asked to see them. They came running when she walked out the back door since I suspect they knew they were just about to get a popcorn treat. It was very cute.
Picture of the Day for 8/12/2014. I adore egg salad. I don't even mind whipping it up as it's not an onerous chore, except for today. Here is the extreme shortcut I used. I cut a hard-boiled egg in half and smothered each half in mayo and mustard and then sprinkled salt and pepper on top. Not a bad alternative.
Picture of the Day for 8/11/2014. So, yeah, I'm currently reading a time travel romance set on the Navajo reservation written by a woman from the Netherlands...
This should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone who knows me...
Picture of the Day for 8/10/2014. My sister was writing down some driving directions for her daughter (my niece) Michelle and inadvertently wrote down "pass casserole" as opposed to "pass by Crestview Elementary on your way to Larson Way." Granted, my sister was extremely frazzled as this was just one day before her daughter (my niece) Corinne's wedding, but that doesn't mean I won't make fun of her!
I'm actually a big fan of casseroles because they are the ultimate in comfort food. I kind of like the thought of neighborhoods filled with casseroles to the point they are used as route markers. Yum.
Picture of the Day for 8/9/2014. I've been cleaning out some boxes and came across a sketchbook from when I took an art class about 15 years ago. We were asked to do a self-portrait and as you can see from the picture below this is the worst self-portrait in the history of self-portraits. I burst out laughing when I saw this.
In my defense, this was at the beginning of the class. I did get better. I actually learned how to draw a pretty decent eye.
Picture of the Day for 8/8/2014. My niece Renee is a fabulous auntie to her nephews (also known as my great-nephews) Dane and Ethan. She took them out to dinner tonight before taking them to see the movie Guardians of the Galaxy. She also bought them sodas at the theater and had smuggled in candy bars for the boys. She is also a fabulous niece because she had smuggled in a candy bar for me too. Yay for clandestine candy bars! As you can tell, I invited myself along on the outing. It was fun hanging out with the boys who were more than prepared to see this film with their Guardians of the Galaxy t-shirts.
Picture of the Day for 8/7/2014. I stumbled upon the most interesting bit of history the other day. On April 27, 1942, men who were between the ages of 45-64 and not already in the military were required to register for the draft. The purpose was to see what men and resources were available for help on the home-front during World War ll, not to call them up for active duty overseas.
I found my grandpa Moss' registration form from that day. He was 45-years-old.
Further research yielded a copy of his registration form from World War 1.
My grandpa Merrill was 46-years-old on that day and also would have been required to sign up, but sadly I can't find his registration form online.
Picture of the Day for 8/6/2014. So, one of the drawbacks of working from home is I'm not socially compelled to look presentable. Hence, I often wear the same outfit for several days at a time. Pictured below is this week's extremely comfortable "uniform."
Really, it's only a matter of time before I become a crazy cat lady...
Picture of the Day for 8/5/2014. We've had very rainy weather over the past few days. Tonight's storm ended with this beautiful double-rainbow.
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