Isn't it strange how life won't flow, like a river, but moves in jumps, and if it were held back by locks that are opened now and then to let it jump forwards in a kind of flood? 

                        -- Anita Desai

I'm in one of those "held back by locks" periods, enjoying the reality of my "now" and the anticipation of my "someday."

Life is stressful. Life is fun. Life is hopeful. Life is unexpected.

Life is crazy.

Isn't it wonderful?

15 of my favorite feelings

The vlogbrothers are two brothers -- Hank Green and John Green (the author of The Fault in Our Stars) -- who each post a video blog once a week to keep in touch and discuss what is on their minds. Hank and John are both nerdy and socio-concious. Their posts vary from being extremely insightful to wonderfully silly. Their motto is "Don't forget to be awesome" or DFTBA!

I like their videos a lot.

Hank posted a video with a list of what he calls his "15 favorite feelings" and it made me smile 'cause, yeah, I like these things, too!!


And now I am inspired to write my own list. (Forgive me if I steal from Hank a little.) In no particular order:

1. Hugging or cuddling a small child.
2. Fitting back into clothes I once outgrew. (As Bette Midler's character says in The First Wives' Club, "It's better than new!")
3. Not wanting to work out and doing it anyway.
4. Throwing together a bunch of somewhat random ingredients with no recipe and coming away with a surprisingly tasty meal.
5. A friend I admire and value telling me he/she admires and values me.
6. A sincere "Thank you."
7. Finishing a story (I get interrupted a lot).
8. Finally getting a "Yes" after a ton of "Nos."
9. A text or phone call from out of the blue.
10. Vacuum lines in my carpet at home.
11. Finishing a good book.
12. Each check mark on a list.
13. In-depth conversations about nerdy things like superheroes, Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc.
14. Lying in bed in the morning and not having to get up right away.
15. Leaving work on Friday in anticipation of a fun weekend with great people.

What are some of your favorite feelings?

DFTBA and Happy Friday!

"Get in my cave, Woman!"

Once, when complaining to a female friend about how guys kept asking me for date activities I didn't care to do, she told me about what she called the "Caveman Effect", or "Get in my cave, Woman!"

Basically, in caveman days, all a man had to do to impress a girl was to club her over the head and drag her into his cave. She'd see how brave and strong and aggressive he was and fall hopelessly in love.

Nowadays, women don't take kindly to being clubbed and dragged. Instead, the man tries to impress her -- and gauge their compatibility -- by inviting her to do things he likes to do and is good at. This can be anything from country dancing, to hiking, to playing video games, to making dinner, to dinner at a fancy restaurant. The man finds out if the girl is up for it, and the girl gets to see the guy in his best light -- doing something he is good at and feels good about.

I went out several times recently with a guy who kept trying to drag me into his cave. I was willing to go along to a point... but it became evident early on that he didn't know how to make me feel welcome inside his cave, and he did not show any interest my likes or feelings. Turns out, there's a thin line between encouraging a person to try something new, and steamrolling over her comfort level. Some give and take is required, and it can't all come from the woman's side.

The Caveman Effect is less impressive when the man is more interested in his ego than the woman's opinion.

I'm willing to give a guy a chance. We're both nervous. We're both figuring each other out. If he has the guts to ask me out, I'll make an effort to ensure that he has a good time. I want to see where things go. See if I like him as a person. I'm on his side -- I want it to go well and see if we're a match. I'll make him as comfortable and appreciated as I can. It's nice when he does the same for me.

Thankfully, most men I've been out with do.

Memes that make me giggle: Every girls' dream

Marvelous May

Oh, May. You passed by quickly, during which time I went to Disneyland, auditioned for and was cast in 1776, and saw Avengers: Age of Ultron three times.

It was a good month!

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Please tell me you've seen this movie. Funny, though not as clever as the first, darker and still entertaining. Loved all of the group scenes; you can tell they had a great time making this film. James Spader is a brilliant villain even when you only hear his voice (though they did a good job making the robots look like him, down to the way he moves his mouth). Everyone had time to shine, and Captain America is still my favorite, but it was Hawkeye's movie. So good. Can't wait to see where the franchise goes from here. It may be time to start purchasing the DVDs.

Kristin, Scott, and I went the night the movie opened. I even bought a Black Widow t-shirt for the occasion.

Larissa, Nichole, Jamie, Ann and I went the next night. We intended to see Cinderella,
but it was sold out, so Avengers was the next logical choice.

Family Home Evening bonfire

Stephanie joined me for a bonfire with my Relief Society and our Elders Quorum. I met a few new people, shored up some other friendships, set all of my marshmallows on fire (as usual), and got to hug Steph a lot. I call that a good night.

Birthday princesses

My nieces had a birthday. Golly, I love those girls. Breezy asked me for an Elsa costume, and Zonks asked for fuzzy slippers. Happy to oblige!

My matching purple dress was a happy accident

Grammy made an Elsa costume for Breezy's doll, and an Anna costume for Zonk's doll (not pictured)

Love this one of Zonks and Aaron

Love watching Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Adam with baby PJ

Daddy and daughters

I also gifted the girls with some metallic temporary tattoos. This was difficult to remove, and now I feel guilty for making it difficult for the girls' dear mom.

Mother's Day

I missed Mother's Day dinner because I was driving to Disneyland. Of course, I called Mom that morning to give her the travel update and tell her how much I love her. When I got home, I took a day off from work to paint clocks with her, her sisters, and some of my cousins. The project ended up not being quite as difficult as I feared (my skill level is low), but even after 7 hours I was only about a quarter -- maybe a third -- of the way finished. Guess I'll need to spend some more time with my mom while I get it done :)

Sweet tooth

I read a blog not long ago about the 10 best places in Utah to buy donuts, and made a note to visit them when in their area. Foolish? Maybe. Delicious? Definitely!

The Cinnabomb at Art City Donuts. Those warm suckers melted in my mouth. I planned to only eat half, but ate the whole darn plate -- it was too good to leave until the next day! 

A samoa and a peanut butter cup donut from Sweet Country Store. They partner with Dunford Donuts and make them to order, so I requested a chocolate donut for the samoa. It was delicious, but I think the chocolate overpowered the delicate coconut taste, so next time I'll try it on a glazed donut instead. The peanut butter cups on the chocolate donut were GLORIOUS!

My "Waffle Love" (nutella, raspberries, and cream) from Waffle Love was really good, but I think I prefer syrup on my waffles, paired with bacon. Nutella seems like a crepe thing to me. Eating this for dinner felt like I was eating dessert, and I somehow felt let down. I realize this is crazy talk, especially since I went back last week for Biscoff and strawberries. Next time I'll eat dinner first. 

I don't remember the last time I ate at Nielsen's Frozen Custard. This is ridiculous, because it's up the street from my house. It was worth the wait: smooth, creamy, and sweet. Better than regular ice cream. I even had sort of an adventure while there. I had washed my car next door, so when I pulled into the drive-through line, I dried my care with a towel until the cars ahead moved forward. I'd jump in the driver's seat to move forward, and then I'd jump out and dry again until it was done. Took three moves. I'd have been embarrassed except the people behind me seemed entertained. When I finally got to the window, I said a few sentences before I realized I hadn't rolled down my clean window. Whoops! The girl taking the order laughed pretty hard when I sheepishly rolled the window down to give her my order. Fortunately, the chocolate malted almond cone was delicious, and "one scoop" was actually three!

Odds and Ends

Once upon a time, I used to draw my costumes to dress my gorgeous Peck-Gandre paper dolls in. I even assigned different dolls to my friends so they could all be Phantom of the Opera ballerinas or the friends from Anne of Green Gables together. My character was always the Cinderella doll, of course. I think I need to start this hobby up again.

Hand-drawn costumes clockwise from top left: A Christmas Carol, The Egyptian Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Little House on the Prairie, and Tom Sawyer.

Found a cool tutorial for waterproofing canvas shoes with beeswax. It took forever, but works great!

I get an allergy shot every month, and this time I took a photo of what my arm looks like for two days afterwards. So sore! Allergies stink...and itch and hurt! Good thing the shots seem to be helping.

My dentist's office is less than a block from my house. It was a lovely, sunny afternoon, so I walked over and didn't even take an umbrella. About 5 minutes in to my appointment, the clouds unloaded a crazy, short storm. It mostly cleared up during my walk home -- I only got a little damp. Of course, the sun came out again as soon as I got inside my house. May weather: three solid weeks of rain followed immediately by 85-90 degree heat. Crazy!

Memorial Day weekend

A clean house is a beautiful thing

I invited Adam, his kids, and Aaron to see Tomorrowland with me. I didn't like the movie as much as I'd hoped, though I thought the female characters were terrific. I was glad my nieces saw Athena's kick-butt preteen character -- even kids can fight for what they believe in. We need more positive female role models like her.

My mom cooks a great holiday dinner. I need more of that corn bread STAT.

Blown tire

The month ended with a BANG (punny chuckle) when one of my tires blew on the freeway. It was inconvenient, obviously, and buying new tires ended up being more dramatic than it needed to be, but, frankly, I'm thrilled to be rid of those stupid snow tires. I'm still mad that they ordered snow tires when I said I wanted all-weather, and since I didn't know they were snow I threw away my non-snow tires, and since snow tires are ridiculously expensive I couldn't afford non-snow. Anyway, the snow tires are gone, I have all-weather, and with ANY LUCK AT ALL I won't have to buy new tires again for awhile. Don't let me down, Lady Luck!

That's kind of a downer way to end the post. Sorry.

It's June! Summer is here! Time for rehearsals to get serious, time at the pool, more delicious food, and quality time with the people I care about the most.

Hooray for summer!

He plays the violin!

I am beyond thrilled to announce that I will be playing Martha Jefferson in 1776 the Musical at The Empress Theatre July 3-25! I love this play. I've wanted for 20 years to play this role. I'm excited to work with a lot of talented actors and a fantastic production team.

The cool thing is that a lot of us in the show are passionate about it. It's the story of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I find the story and the characters fascinating, and some of the music is memorable -- my song is the best one ;) I just love it. I cannot wait to dive in.

After my first rehearsal, when I finally received a script and learned my song, I was so excited I posted this on Instagram and Facebook:

It's really real! I get to play Martha Jefferson and sing "He Plays the Violin." This is my life! #1776themusical #empresstheatremagna #ilovelivetheatre #dreamrole
Now, if only we can find a man to play Thomas Jefferson...

As is so often the case with musicals in the summertime, we need a few more men. Specifically, we need a Thomas Jefferson and a Benjamin Franklin. It's a challenge to find a talented guy who looks the part, is available, and wants to do this show. (That's the story of my dating life, too.) If you know of anyone who might fit the bill, please let me know.

Hope you all will come see me in this play. It's a perfect way to celebrate the birth of our country!