#39 - glorious achievement

Five months after buying the goods, I did the deed. A sushi SUCCESS! We had avocado-crab-carrot sushi and salmon-cucumber-avocado sushi. Both delicious and both well crafted. With the pot-stickers to accompany them and with cokes on the side, it was the perfect meal. That's not to say Sushi Ya is no longer appetizing, but our dozen or so sushi came to about 5 bucks worth of ingredients (if that)... maybe 3. The "making of" and "shopping for" being so fun probably added to the goodness of the dinner, but I think the sushi can stand alone and speak for itself. And if it could, it would say "Love on me; I'm delicious".

#38 - "or would you rather be a fish..."

I believe that we are evolved from animals. Not directly from apes or anything like that. I think that each person morphed into who they are from an animal previously. If you look at someone close enough, you can see the animal within them. I remember one day at work at the Attorney General's Office, my friend/co-worker and I had fun with this game. There was a large poster with the faces of all the Washington State Representatives and Senators. We proceeded to look down the list and identify which animals each of the member's looked like. I've done this with roommates and friends before too - identifying which animals we look most like.

Sami and I identified our inner animals:

#37 - Maaaaammm! We need carpet for the clubhouse!

I'm officially never too old for forts. It's so exciting being in a secret place, inside a place. When I was in elementary school, I would clear out a corner of my closet; add a lamp, some blankets and pillows and just be happy being sneaky. I always thought, no one could see me or find me if I was in my fort. My forts were very portable as well. Where ever I was, I could find one: inside the circular clothing racks in stores while my mother shopped, laying on the chairs under the dining room table, and inside empty cabinets (I was much more compactable then). My dad and I even built a treehouse fort in my back yard - split level!

Every semester, thus far, I have had a fort in my apartment. Freshman year, it usually consisted of stacking the couches in the living room with one sheet draped over it. Sometimes we mixed it up, went all out, and brought our matresses into the living room, but that was only on special occasions. Each semester, I think they have gotten more and more sophisticated. This semester, however, the title was taken. Sami and I made a breakfast of champions for the men (Taron and Brent) while they build "the cave". Big enough to sit in, eat in, lay in, and watch a movie - it was perfect. I don't think we could have done better, even after our many years of practice. I believe we easily could have hung out in there all day, but alas, duty calls (boo work). Time to plan the next stronghold of sneak...

(no pics of today's fort... couldn't find the camera...)

#36 - older and older

Yesterday was Taron's surprise birthday! The big 2-4. Batman themed with a monkey pinyata - it was awesome. Sami and I were talking the other day how I won't have another birthday while I'm in school. Graduation is the 23rd and my birthday is the 31st. All of a sudden, I felt very old. To make me feel better, we decided to have an "in between" birthday in June to celebrate both of our birthdays together (in addition to celebrating Sami's in May and mine (sami-less) in July). This makes me happy, yes it does!

#35 - can I have your number? can I have it?

Pet peeve: so it's just about closing time - 11:30 and a girl has been working out for about half an hour already, running on the treadmill. This young guy comes in and starts walking on a treadmill near her and begins small talk. Where are you from? Name? Major? etc... She politely answers and continues to run. First of all, it's hard to talk and run at the same time, so props to her for being so nice. He starts jogging and flirting up a storm. After about five minutes of that, he gets off, says it was nice to meet her and leaves. In no way do I approve of guys pretending to work out just to pick up girls. We know what you are doing and are not impressed. That, plus the fact that he was all small-talkie. I don't like when guys ask the generic questions on a date... I say, just be normal and have fun and all those little details will come out naturally in conversation. Don't be too overwhelmingly interested... if that makes sense. So this is what I do from 11:00 pm on - during the days I'm pretty busy with work stuff, but this late, I just listen in and judge the feeble pick-up attempts.

#34 - a year of change

I am so excited for this new year. It started off perfectly; spent with my best friend - and continues to be more and more exciting. I started my new job today as Fitness Director and Faculty Advisor to the Wellness Center. It was so much fun - I'm right in the midst of the workout, healthy, sweaty action! All the people I work with are friendly and outgoing and it looks like I will be staying pretty busy. Classes also started this week: Sports Medicine, Spirituality in the Arts, Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases, Ethics, Social Problems. All my teachers are friendly and pretty funny. The work load isn't going to be cake, but defiantly manageable. I am also starting to put the Relief Society President gears into motion. I am teaching this sunday and will meet all the new people in my ward. I am stoked! It's nice being able to start over - clean slate - for a new year and a new semester. This will be my last full load semester (my senior semester will only have two classes!). A few caveats amidst the perfection: two of my professors seem to be embracing the youth embodied in their students by offering "sharing time" "show and tell" and requiring that the students use markers and paper to make name plates to put at our desks... oh so cute... SLASH makes me feel like I'm not a senior in college.