snl weekly

JT does awesome in this skit along with Kristen Wiig. Her Target lady skits are some of my faves. Enjoy.

alice in wonderland

I love me some good movies. I am definitely a movie buff. Therefore, I got real giddy in seeing pictures like these from Tim Burton's new take on Alice in Wonderland. It is not in theaters until March 2010 but I can't help being very excited about it. Wow. Of course, Johnny Depp (Burton's muse) is in it. He plays the Mad Hatter:

He looks more like a psychedlic Carrott Top. Burton's wife, Helena Bonham Carter (Room with A View FOREVER), is cast as the Red Queen:

Anne Hathaway is cast as the White Queen:

Now...you can't tell me you aren't the tiniest bit anxious for this movie to come out.

father's day

Wow. This is amazing. Please take the time to watch. Happy Father's Day. Thanks for all your hard work.

snl weekly

Horatio Sanz was on Jimmy the other night. He was one of my favorites on SNL. They talked specifically about this skit they did together on SNL. They said it wasn't one of their favorites but I think it is pretty funny. Check it out.

reflection

Do you ever catch yourself thinking of the past? Does a certain event or person or thing happen to cross your mind and you think I really should have...
Or I should have told that person how I felt.
I should have taken that ticket to London.
I should have jumped without anticipation.
I shouldn't have made that choice.
But...what would have happened if many of these choices had been different?
What if I told that person?
What if I had gone to London?
What if??

The other day I scanned a load of pictures from my past. Some were hilarious. Some were more meaningful. But all got me to thinking about what I have done and where I am today. Oftentimes it is said to not dwell on the past. Always be looking straight ahead but check the rear-view from time-to-time.
It helps me.
Once I get past the "What Ifs"...it honestly helps me to look back and make future decisions based on what I did before.
My parents would say, "You know, when I was a kid and when I did this..." or "We are glad you are learning..."
But I am. I am learning and striving to move forward. No more regrets. No more mistakes...which is totally impossible. But no more what ifs. Live life to its fullest degree.

favorite children's books

I thoroughly enjoy this more serious, reflecting book about a blue-bellied toad and a ripe peach. Peach wants to see the world and is sad she is stuck to her tree. Blue assists her in getting down and shows her his pondside view in a leaf-lined bowl of mud and twigs. In the end, it is her who opens up a whole new world to Blue. The art is absolutely amazing. Very detailed and well-composed.

swiss cow fights

My brother is doing a study abroad in Switzerland right now. Yes, I'm totally envious.
But they attended the most peculiar and very wrong sporting event. I had to share it with you because...who does that?! Well, Swiss people apparently.

well today i went to the cow fights. it was up in the mountains. outside of some city that i can't remember. it was a lot of fun. i took some pictures of some of the fights. what happens is they get about 50 pregnant cows that are lactating that they don't milk. this makes them very irritable and frustrated which is what they want. they take them up into the mountains, gather them together in a meadow on the side of the mountains, then they corral them with just a piece of string. then they wait for them to get frustrated enough that they start fighting each other. it is really interesting. they try to keep them in the ring by hitting them with sticks. they normally have 2 rounds but today they only had 1 since there were some really good fights. there were two cows that were fighting for about 10 minutes. these cows also have horns which i thought was peculiar considering that i thought only bulls had horns. but these ones had udders and all. you learn something new everyday.

saved by the bell

Oh my goodness. Any Saved By the Bell diehards out there? You will definitely enjoy this. I love that Jimmy Fallon is trying to put a reunion together.

spiderman on broadway

How cool is this?? A Broadway musical based on a Marvel comic (is this the first?) AND music and lyrics written by Bono and The Edge. Holy crud. I will be going. Not sure how yet but I must! Cannot miss this. Conan O'Brien was joking about it the other night. Larry King's wife may have a role in it. That was the first I had heard about it.

Julie Taymor is known for directing The Lion King on Broadway and also the movie Across the Universe. She previewed Across the Universe movie to Paul McCartney. She sat next to him while he watched her movie. How nerve racking/cool would that be??? She is one lucky lady.

message of remembrance

I love this new message. I am going to put this into practice in my life. It is great.

announcement

Me and bread don't mix. I guess I have to give up and just forget about trying to make bread. I seriously am never successful! Today the dough didn't even rise. Not sure if I just didn't put enough yeast or not enough flour or the water was too hot. I dunno! I guess I am a bread-tard. Anyone need a paper weight? I have 5. They are shaped like loaves of bread. Takers??

snl weekly

s-a-t-u-r-d-a-y night!

A synopsis of my day so far:

• woke up at 5am for a run...ended up staying in bed, listening to the rain. :)
• 6:45am: just drifting back to sleep
• 7:15am: mase-face slid into bed with us
• 8am: finally got up and fed kids
• helped mase-face make a birthday card and get well card
• wrapped a birthday present
• made bread (waiting for it to rise)
• dressed kids and gave them a snack (grapes, crackers and cheese)
• put kids in grandparents car with dad for a BBQ/birthday party down in SLC
• home alone typing this with a big smile on my face

Pretty much plan to veg the rest of the day. I am excited to make myself some lunch that I can actually sit down and enjoy. Reading is a top priority. Showering without interruption. May belt out a tune or two in the shower...without interruption. Grocery shopping by myself. Bachelorette party tonight. SO excited. Have never been to one before. Pretty sure it will be low-key. Raspberry butter and fresh rolls at Maddox...here I come!!

book review

Need a good book? May I highly recommend my current read. I haven't finished it yet and am already highly recommending it. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Very clever in that the whole book are letters. I almost feel like I'm being invited to view the intimate side of a person I don't even know. It takes place after the second World War, in the year of 1946. A young author, by the name of Juliet Ashton, is in search of ideas for a new book. An unexpected letter shows up in the post from a man living on the island of Guernsey (did you know this English island exists??). I cannot put it down and just started it yesterday. Will let you know how it ends. ;)

fanatical friday

It's Friday!! Time to give ourselves a soaphawk, lounge in the tub and read an excellent book. Or magazine. Either would do. Just do something to remind yourself that life is still livable after a week of laundry, cleaning house, making sure the toy in the kids happy meal is correct (one under 3, one over 3). i.e. pleasing everyone but yourself. So for one day, tell the world to shove it where the sun don't shine. Much like Ouiser would say.

crazy talk

Have you seen the newest Newsweek? In it, an article about the power of Oprah and the guests she has hosted on her show. I was immediately drawn to this. Oprah's shows, more specifically the ones where The Secret is revealed (um...was that a secret??), Suzanne Somers talks abou the great lengths she goes through to not age (has she not watched Benjamin Button?!?!). Pretty wacky ideas and regimens have become commonplace. More surprisingly is that Oprah goes right along with her guests and their thinking. Would love to know your thoughts. Of course, if Oprah were to invite me on her show, I wouldn't say no.

You can read the full article here.

sometimes i curl up in a ball

I have strayed from posting my favorite children's books. Here is one that has become a fave in our household. A very cute, rhyming tale of a wombat and all of his daily adventures. He loves to jump high and stand tall. He loves to be loud and pigeon step. But most of all, he loves to curl up in a ball at night, snuggled up to his mommy. A fun read for a child any age.

hawaii

Do I need to tell you how much fun Hawaii was? That is expected. I will tell you that everyone needs to go there, at least once in their lifetime. Just a beautiful place with beautiful people from all walks of life. One thing I especially loved was all the flowers blooming spontaneously all along the roads, neighborhoods, highways. So fragrant too! I truly do miss that. The plumeria were in full bloom and just beautiful.

My parents are totally rad and hooked us up with a condo in Kona. So 3 of us siblings (out of 5) were able to go. One thing I didn't think about was how rocky the island was. Should have known since it has volcanoes on the island and thus, how it was formed. But still so beautiful and tropical.

This was one of our favorite beaches:

Beautiful white, soft sand. Water temperature just perfect. Such a gorgeous day. This was taken the day after we arrived. We saw our first sea turtle here.

The next day we drove to the other side of the island, visited Hilo and also the volcano national park. Unfortunately, it was totally overcast and rainy so we didn't get to actually see the volcano. We did smell the sulfur and whatever else that is in the air. These steam vents were pretty cool:

We spent a lot of time at this beach:

The majority of our snorkeling was here. We saw lots of cool fish and sea turtles. Mr. Maple (hubby) got bit by a fish. It was pretty hilarious actually. Well, I think I was the only one laughing. I think he has laughed about it now...once or twice. :)

We went sea kayaking in Kealakekua Bay over to the Captain Cook monument, snorkeled a lot there, visited a lot of different beaches and restaurants.

This was a beautiful sunset on our way out to night snorkel with Manta Rays. Probably the coolest thing we did while in Hawaii. A must-do when there. Honestly, I could tell you all about it but it wouldn't sound nearly as cool. So you will just have to try it. A tip: don't hyperventilate when you get in the dark water. It totally fogs up your mask. Just FYI.

We also spent a couple days on Oahu. We went to Pearl Harbor, the North Shore, the Polynesian Cultural Center, Waikiki Beach and the Cheesecake Factory. :)

This was taken on our last day in Hawaii. I get teary just looking at this picture. My feet miss the beach so much. I honestly didn't mind the sand between the toes, saltwater in my hair. Hopefully we can return sooner rather than later.