Monday, June 27, 2011

Bryan's coming home in two days!!!

I'm flying home in two days to be there when Bryan arrives. The whole weekend is planned with fun family activities. Take a look at our what fun means for our family. I can't even wait...except I have 10 hours of IIE work, at least 3 hours of babysitting, laundry, dry cleaning, packing and getting my truck fixed before I leave on Wednesday.  Good times.

beck

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Balimer

I spent the last few days in Baltimore for work.  Everyone else calls it Baltimore, but the locals call it "Balimer." And instead of water they say "wooter." It's funny.

Baltimore is called Charm City. I always thought of it as scary city. During this work trip I was able to pay more attention to the history and the food, so now I can definitely see the charm.  Actually, I am kind of thinking that I'd love to live there.  Baltimore, Chicago or Providence are on my list for the next best place to live.

Since I was going to be in Baltimore anyway, I bought tickets with my roommate to see the U2 concert.  I was soooo excited because Florence + the Machine was opening.  Sadly, due to poor planning, when the concert started I was stuck outside waiting for my roommate to arrive with the tickets.  We missed all but one song by Florence.  U2 was fun but I'm still pretty upset about missing Florence.

Come visit me and we'll definitely go to Baltimore.  It's my new favorite place.

Here are a few pics and videos for your viewing pleasure.  

Crab chair carved in Indonesia


Special tour of the Phillips Food plant. So cool. Yummy crab cakes. 


Cupola at City Hall. 

Tile under the cupola at City Hall. 

View of the Inner Harbor from the Top of the World at the Baltimore World Trade Center. 


The aquarium? I still haven't been there.  



Ah...Florence. 




I'm glistening from the humidity and I'm wearing my new concert t-shirt in this pic. 

An ad for the concert.  So fun. 


beck

Thursday, June 2, 2011

This one's for the memory

This last weekend and the last few days have been jam packed with a load of events and emotions.

On Friday, I saw Woody Allen's newest movie Midnight in Paris. It was quite funny at times.  I'm forever enchanted by Marion Cotillard.  I think she's so beautiful and so fantastic.

On Saturday, I went to the batting cages with Dama and some coworkers.  I had no idea it would be so painful.  I guess softballs at a batting cage are harder, more durable than normal softballs so each hit was strenuous. We finished the night by watching The Sandlot. It was fitting.

Earlier that day, Dama introduced me to the TV show Rookie Blue. And some brilliant person put all the interactions between Officer McNally and Officer Swarek into youtube videos by episode.  It's brilliant, addicting and so bad for me.  It's like taking all the meat out of a sandwich and getting to eat it all at once. It tastes good, but it might leave you feeling a little messed up.  In one of the episodes I heard the song below by A Fine Frenzy. I'm a little bit obsessed.



Don't worry: there's more to this weekend of fun.

On Sunday, I gave a talk in our ward's Sacrament meeting.  It was on testimony. The preparation was the best part for me. I'm glad to have done it, but I'm glad that it's over.

Maggie, Melanie and I skipped out after Sunday School to attend a Memorial Day concert at the Kennedy Center.  The concert featured the U.S. Army Orchestra and was conducted by a few impressive men, including Craig Jessop.  I was not expecting to get emotional, but I found myself crying when servicemen stood up while their military theme song was played.  It got worse.  After that concert we went over to the concert on the mall and they did the same thing there--had all the servicemen stand as their theme song was being played.  It's one thing to know of the conflicts overseas and those who are generally involved.  It's another thing to see those people right in front of you--the ones who sacrificed so much and still do.

I'm almost finished with my weekend summary.  On Monday, I went shopping.  This deserves a longer post.  But I did go shopping. After 52 weeks, I finally bought new clothes.

Memorial Day happens to be the day that my Grannie died last year. I'll never be able to forget that.  Gosh, I miss her, but I know she's happier where she is now and that I'll get to be reunited with her after death. It doesn't make the sorrow or grief go away, but it's a comfort that makes it more bearable.     

The last thing I'd like to mention in this summary is that my dad's treatment ends this weekend.  After a year of awful pain and depression, he'll be able to start recovering.  In six months we'll know if he's officially cured. I'm full of hope.

How fitting that the events around Memorial Day should be so memorable.

beck