Megan reads A Fighting Chance

A Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An autobiography? Of a politician? Who is still living?

None of the items on that list fall into my usual reading "likes" categories, but I liked this book. In spite of her son's constantly telling her she isn't funny, Elizabeth Warren made me giggle a few times. Her writing style is engaging, and her story is more than a little interesting. She made me really angry at the government and the banking industry, and she made me hopeful -- if more politicians are like her -- things will get better for us normal, non-rich folks.

More than anything, this book convinced me that my vote is important. I'll be paying a lot of attention to this election cycle and doing my research to make sure I vote for the people I most trust to guide our country in the future.


View all my reviews

May!

I love Sunday evenings with the family in the summer. My parents built a swing set in their backyard and it's a big hit with the kids. I tried swinging on the swings, and the whole set shook enough that I won't try it again :P

The G-Unit cheers PJ taking his first t-ball swings

My mom said to my brothers and me, "I'm going to bring all my picture books upstairs and let you choose the ones you want." I shouted, "No!" abandoned the gravy I was in charge of, and ran downstairs to plunder the collection. They are banged up and worn and wonderful and I'm thrilled they're mine. My brothers were good-natured about it. My mom approved of my choices.

May 4 is known as Star Wars Day, or "May the Fourth Be With You." 

My workplace had a trivia game. I answered one of the questions correctly, and also got the bonus (finding the code word in the "fine print.")

The prizes were out of this world!

The office also treated everyone to a matinee of Captain America: Civil War during work hours. Good movie. It was a nice way to celebrate four weeks at the new job!

While waiting two hours for a date to meet me, I discovered that Sports Authority was going out of business. So, I went inside and bought some weights and a t-shirt for a great price. I've been wanting them for a while!

I go out to lunch with co-workers fairly often. One day, we went to Tsunami, and since I don't like seafood I got teriyaki beef. I also discovered that "veggie rolls" at a sushi place are not the same thing as egg rolls.

Still don't know who this person is. Just another reason I loathe group texts.

May 24 is National Tiara Day, so I posted this gem from 2013.

It's been a long time since the six of us have been together

I moved to another desk on another floor. It's a nice space, but I miss the window!

My hands are pretty small, but my tiny nephew puts me to shame! My hand covers his forearm, and his barely covers my thumb. And all is right with the world!

Took a walk down memory lane and saw The Utah Childrens' 'Theater's Tom Sawyer. Becky Thatcher was my very first lead with this theater 20 years ago. The play was as charming and funny as I remembered, and the corn cake in the Soda Shop was delicious! I talked with the actress who played Becky; she was a total sweetheart and a much better actress than I was back then.

This little boy found out he's going to get a little brother. Eee!

Our gift to Mom for Mother's Day was tickets to a Salt Lake Bees game. The Bees lost, but I had a great time with the original seven. My family is truly fantastic. I'm glad we did this.

I broke my baby toe, so that's going to be healing for the rest of the summer. Whoops!

On Memorial Day, I visited my grandpa's grave. A lot of his family is buried in that plot. I liked looking at all the names and dates and wondering who all those relatives were when they were alive.

This terrific lady married her perfect match. It was great to celebrate her happiness, and hilarious how many of her female relatives tried to set me up with men in their family!

Theresa made this cake. It was perfect.

Took some time to rearrange and add a few more photos to my Wall of Smiles. I put the rest in a photo album. I have some fantastic memories!

Unpacked my summer clothes and packed up my winter clothes. Summer is here!

Felt pretty, so I took a photo

Can't resist these things. This one is pretty accurate, except my body feels much older than 19 -- haha!

And a shot of my handsome older nephew playing flag football.

He looks so grown-up all of a sudden!

Megan reads Stars Above

Stars Above by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After the first couple of stories, I wasn't sure if this collection had needed to be written. Most of it simply fleshes out backstories we already had a lot of information about from the Lunar Chronicles series. And then I read The Little Android and I bawled. I was surprised and thrilled that Meyer squeezed in one more new fairy tale and three more characters for me to fall in love with. It was heartbreaking and beautiful. The final story, which takes place after the events in Winter, is a delightful wrap-up to our heroines' stories, and strongly calls back to the first story, too, making the first more relevant and the last more poignant. I'm a big fan. Thanks for giving us one more window into these characters' lives, Ms. Meyer. There's a reason I recommend this series to everyone who asks!


View all my reviews

2015 reading goal accomplished!

I reached my Goodreads Reading Goal of 25 books by August 22. This tells me that next year I might need to set my goal a little higher.

All of these books are on Goodreads, if you want to look any of them up :)

Biographical

Yes, Please by Amy Poehler
The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
You're Never Weird on the Internet by Felicia Day

Childrens books

The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
Hug Machine by Scott Campbell

Classic (and classic feel)

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Georgiana Darcy's Diary by Anna Elliott
Little House in the Big Woods*, Little House on the Prairie*, Farmer Boy*, On the Banks of Plum Creek* by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Tuck Everlasting* by Natalie Babbitt
The BFG* by Roald Dahl

Fantasy and Science fiction

Allegiant by Veronica Roth
Fairest, Cinder*, Scarlet*, Cress*, Winter by Marissa Meyer
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone*, ...and the Chamber of Secrets*, ...and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, ...and the Goblet of Fire*, ...and the Order of the Phoenix*, ...and the Half-Blood Prince*, ...and the Deathly Hallows* by JK Rowling

The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

Storm Front, Fool Moon, and Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
Pawn of Prophecy*, Queen of Sorcery*, Magician's Gambit*, Castle of Wizardry*, Enchanters' End Game* by David Eddings

Religious

The Infinite Atonement by Tad R. Callister
Daughters in My Kingdom
Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson
Our Search for Happiness* by M. Russell Ballard
The Book of Mormon -- twice!*

Theatre and plays

A TheaterGoer's Journal
1776 the Musical by Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards
Is He Dead? by Mark Twain and David Ives



Books marked with * are ones I've read before and reread this year. Reading the David Eddings books again felt like coming home!

Just a few things from November

November went by fast. That happens when you spend half of it out of town. Hooray for epic vacations and holidays with family!

Here are the very few non-vacation related things deemed worthy of documentation (not including stuff I was having too much fun doing to stop and photograph):

We didn't do Pie Night this year. Thank goodness our Thanksgiving buffet offered me plenty of options.

The Lunar Chronicles were my favorite find last year. The final novel was a fantastic wrap up. I read it twice before returning it to the library (800 pages is not a small commitment). Thank you for the recommendation, Kate. I loved it!!

This was how I felt when I finished Winter. You have been warned.

Bought some new dress shoes. I've wanted colorful pumps for ages and they were on sale. Hooray!

I still have glitter all over my car from the Glinda costume I wore at Comic Con and for Halloween. No amount of vacuum will ever cleanse my Evie Elantra. I kinda love it.

December boats big deadlines at work and all sorts of Christmas stuff. It's gonna be good!

About August

The summer passed too quickly, as usual. Autumn began the last week of August (as evidenced by allergy issues), but that doesn't mean I didn't make the most of the month! A quick trip to the Shakespeare Festival, family photos, getting into shape, and rehearsals for Is He Dead? dominated the month, and yet I managed to pack in plenty of other summer-time adventures (and use up the better part of three tubes of sunscreen).

Food, glorious food

Even though I did the Personal Trainer Food meal plan for most of the month, I ate out a LOT. I discovered that a lot of places have delicious salads (though that's never the first thing I want to order). It was interesting getting creative with foods this month. For example, my road trip snacks usually include Chicken in a Biscuit crackers, trail mix, and caramel corn. That didn't work on this diet. But the stuff I ate was both healthy and tasty. It's nice to know that's possible.

Road trip snacks

Do not read Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy while on a diet.
Food is a major part of EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER and it all sounds amazing!
(If anyone wants to make a vinegar pie, I'd be happy to taste-test it. I'm so curious.)

One of my dinner dates was late and I ended up staring at this loaf of sourdough bread for 20 minutes.
It was week 3 of the diet and I wanted desperately to eat it. I resisted.
It was my second-greatest victory of the diet.
(The first was surpassing my goal weight.)

Thankfully, Kristen made it and we talked for hours and hours. How I love this little sister of mine. I'm glad she had a few moments free for me before jetting back to London for school.

One of my co-workers brought a TON of cucumber to share.
I took a  bunch and decided to try making cucumber chips.
I sliced the first batch too thickly and cooked the second too long.
They still tasted okay.

Gina's birthday party with an exceptional group of women. These beautiful, funny, thoughtful, strong women have seen me through a lot, and I want to keep them forever!

Thank goodness Mom didn't make this until after the diet was over.
Mom's pie is the best anywhere, and her fresh peach is truly glorious.

Sandy Arts Council's 30th Anniversary party

Nichole invited me to be her date to Sandy Arts Council's 30th Anniversary party. We chatted with friends, ate delicious food (well, I didn't have cake, but the veggies were great), viewed scrapbooks, costumes, and set pieces from previous productions, and saw the final dress rehearsal for Shrek. The play was fantastic. Sandy spares no expense, and the casting was perfect. Finally, a Fiona who understands the quirky character, can dance, and had brilliant comedic timing!

Larissa was a truly darling white rabbit, Queen, tap-dancing rat, and Duloc dancer!

Post family picture photos

After our family photo session with Xan's Eye Photography, a group of us went to Sonic to eat and hang out (I had a Diet Coke). I couldn't resist a few shots of our littlest Smyth. PJ has us all wrapped around his finger, as he should ;)

Summer's wedding

My cute friend Summer was married to her loving hubby in a gorgeous, lavish wedding. She was my double and my sister in Little Women at CenterPoint, and my Liesl in The Sound of Music last year. She is impossibly sweet and impossibly talented. I adore her and am so happy for her!

Can you spot the praying mantis in my hair?

Smelling the cake, since I wouldn't eat it

The view from the wedding, with my friend (noted author) Rebecca Ethington.
She and her sister kept me entertained!

Mom's birthday

Grammy and her grandkids :)

I gave her a bookmark that looks like the Wicked Witch of the East's legs from The Wizard of Oz.
I love that it made her laugh!

Neither this kid nor I care much for frosting. He eschewed the fork and ate the upside-down piece of cake off the frosting.
He is my hero. 

For some reason, PJ does not smile at me very often. It feels like a victory when he does, but I don't mind if he wants to be serious. His resting baby face is adorable, with or without injuries.

Cast party for 1776

We finally had our cast party for 1776, a month after the show closed. I was impressed by the variety and quality of the pot luck, and enjoyed catching up with the people I liked the most (well, of those who came -- a lot of people missed it). We played three rounds of Werewolves of Miller's Hollow, and I played all three in spite of my adversion to strategy games. I was a werewolf twice -- we killed all of the villagers in the first game -- and only survived the first round (always a relief to die and then find out who everyone else is while I watch the rest). When I was killed in the last round, I was the Hunter and took a werewolf out with me, so I call that a win -- the villagers won that round, thank goodness. These are fun people. I hope I get to work with a lot of them again!

Director Michelle Groves

Can you tell who are werewolves and who are villagers?

Random merriment

One day at 7-11, I decided to pay for my enormous Diet Coke with exact change. I pulled these coins out of my wallet and realized my knowledge of their value was no longer instinctual (I was mostly thrown by the absence of any nickels, which was what I needed). It was a sad moment.
Obviously the Parking Token isn't useful in most transactions, but it's worth $10 if you're trying to exit the underground parking lot at Temple Square.

Lunch at Kneaders where Wendy P insisted on taking a photo of me (and subsequently sent to a bunch of her guy friends to encourage them to ask me out)

I found this note in my old copy of Farmer Boy. I have little idea what any of the context is, but it's from Megan Dunyon and was probably written while we were in Junior High. I miss her.

I saw Katie in Murray Arts' production of Camelot. It was her first play in 15 years and she was darling.
I hope we can do a show together in the near future. We haven't been onstage together since before my mission!

I missed this barbecue, but I wanted to share this photo of my bishopric.
I really like these men. They are good at their jobs and nice, genuine people, too.

I killed my fitbit by wearing it while swimming (stupid, stupid choice).
Awesomely, customer service replaced it free of charge. I kept in the habit of walking a ridiculous amount during the interim, but I'm still surprised that it only took me 2 weeks to forget how much walking it takes to get 10,000 steps!

Rehearsals for Is He Dead?

We're in the thick of things, now. We've blocked the show and are working on characters and motivations. I love rehearsing a non-musical. There is more time for scene work and growing as an actor. Plus, our director is fantastic, and the other actors are both hilarious and great to work with. I'm grateful to be a part of it.

"Oh, Father. I can't bear it. How can I make a beggar of you?"

"Everything you've got is mine - bought with my money."

"Her mind is wandering again."
"Wandering? It's practically abroad!"

Director Ryan ponders what to do next

Starving artists

And now it's really autumn. Time for allergies. Time for cooler weather. Time for Salt Lake Comic Con and my birthday. I'll take the good, I'll take the bad, I'll take the rest and... you know ;)

Happy September!