Because I have some super awesome nephews, over the last few years I have learned to LOVE the Scripps National Spelling Bee. This is the third year I've had a nephew in it, but the first year that I have watched the entire thing. On Wednesday I watched pretty much from 7-5, although there were breaks and such, but my whole day was consumed with the spelling bee. I watched all 278 contestants spell their two words. Today I watched the semi-finals as I swept, mopped, and generally just cleaned my house. The finals start in a little over 1 hour. I can't decide who I am cheering for the most. There are a few kids who have won me over. I would love to see the kid from Jamaica win the whole thing. He is the most polite kid, saying "Thank you, Sir" each time Dr. Bailly would give him information about his word (origin, definition, alternate pronunciations, a sentence containing the word). Then there is the kid who has been in the bee the last few years and has always worn the same yellow striped polo shirt. He is fantastic. And then there is Lena. The pure excitement (and sometimes shock) she has after she spells a word right, running back to her seat... it's just contagious!
Besides my nephew, which obviously is the highlight for me... (have you ever watched your nephew on ESPN before?) my all time favorite moment of the spelling bee was when a boy named Jack was given the word "idiosyncratic" and he messed up. He got 2 letters into it, messed up, realized he had messed up, and turned it into the funniest moment of the spelling bee. He spelled it like this: I-O- *pause* -Q-R-S-Z-3-QUATRO-F-L-V-R-Q. Seriously, hilarious. I'm still laughing about this, and trying to find a video clip of it. If I do, you can bet that I'll post it.
Other highlights include people who asked 1. For a different word 2. If he could spell the word for them 3. For an easier word. Such funny kids!
The National Spelling Bee is freakin awesome, and I'll be sad when it's over tonight... I'm already looking forward to watching it next year! I'd love to thank Teag, Talm, and Tag for helping me find a new favorite tv program... if only it was more than just two days a year!
5.31.2012
5.27.2012
Hanon
As a kid I hated this book:
I just absolutely hated it. At the time I thought it was pointless, I was good at fingering (or so I thought) and I could play kinda fast. I thought I was hot stuff when it came to the piano.
This week I ordered that book from Amazon so that I can work on accuracy, speed, and fingering. Turns out I am WAY out of practice.
I got a new calling today (after being released from Activity Days) that will put me at the piano a little more often, hence the desire to improve my piano skills. I was called to accompany the "auxillary choirs" that our ward has-- our youth choir, our womens choir, and our family choirs. I don't have to play for the mens choir, because they got a accompanist today as well. Basically, I play for choirs/musical numbers unless it's the actual ward choir.
The confusing thing... is that my other calling (YW Music Specialist) already requires me to play for the youth choir, and we don't even have a womens choir. Apparently we're going to start an all female choir, and have them perform every 3 months or so. Yep. I got a calling that is only adding a special musical number once ever three months. This is super rad, except that now I feel like I don't really have a calling. I would have accompanied a musical number regardless of whether it was my calling or not.
In other news... about half of our ward was released today because 15+ families are moving out this summer. Dental School graduation was today, and now we'll lose a lot of people! Today we got a new YMs presidency, Primary Presidency, our Sunday School presidency all got released (except the president) and put into other callings... we lost primary teachers, the entire relief society meeting board, an assistant ward clerk, some sunday school teachers... Basically our ward business took about 15 minutes as our Bishop released a ton of people, and then turned around and issued a bunch of new callings.
And yet again, other news... I started playing Just Dance again on my Wii, and I freaking rock at it. If I was still in charge of Activity Day I would make sure to have a dance party this summer where we just play Just Dance and maybe call it an "exercise program" so it could count for something.
I just absolutely hated it. At the time I thought it was pointless, I was good at fingering (or so I thought) and I could play kinda fast. I thought I was hot stuff when it came to the piano.
This week I ordered that book from Amazon so that I can work on accuracy, speed, and fingering. Turns out I am WAY out of practice.
I got a new calling today (after being released from Activity Days) that will put me at the piano a little more often, hence the desire to improve my piano skills. I was called to accompany the "auxillary choirs" that our ward has-- our youth choir, our womens choir, and our family choirs. I don't have to play for the mens choir, because they got a accompanist today as well. Basically, I play for choirs/musical numbers unless it's the actual ward choir.
The confusing thing... is that my other calling (YW Music Specialist) already requires me to play for the youth choir, and we don't even have a womens choir. Apparently we're going to start an all female choir, and have them perform every 3 months or so. Yep. I got a calling that is only adding a special musical number once ever three months. This is super rad, except that now I feel like I don't really have a calling. I would have accompanied a musical number regardless of whether it was my calling or not.
In other news... about half of our ward was released today because 15+ families are moving out this summer. Dental School graduation was today, and now we'll lose a lot of people! Today we got a new YMs presidency, Primary Presidency, our Sunday School presidency all got released (except the president) and put into other callings... we lost primary teachers, the entire relief society meeting board, an assistant ward clerk, some sunday school teachers... Basically our ward business took about 15 minutes as our Bishop released a ton of people, and then turned around and issued a bunch of new callings.
And yet again, other news... I started playing Just Dance again on my Wii, and I freaking rock at it. If I was still in charge of Activity Day I would make sure to have a dance party this summer where we just play Just Dance and maybe call it an "exercise program" so it could count for something.
5.26.2012
Books
The other night Chris was reading some articles online and he told me about one of them-- an article that found that people who own E-readers (kindle, nook, use iBooks on an iPad/iPhone, whatever other E-readers) read more than people who do not own such a device. I quickly asked him what number they quote for each. Apparently E-reader owners read on average 24 books a year whereas people who do not use e-readers only read 14 books a year. I looked at him and laughed a little- I do not own an e-reader but I have read 39 books so far this year, and it's only the end of May.
My question about this article then was whether they were only counting people who purchase books, because of the 39 books I've read I only own 2 of them, the rest were all checked out from the library or borrowed from friends.
If you use an e-reader... do you read more because of it? I'm pretty sure that I would read less unless all the books I wanted to read were suddenly free... because as much as I love books, I hate paying for them.
My question about this article then was whether they were only counting people who purchase books, because of the 39 books I've read I only own 2 of them, the rest were all checked out from the library or borrowed from friends.
If you use an e-reader... do you read more because of it? I'm pretty sure that I would read less unless all the books I wanted to read were suddenly free... because as much as I love books, I hate paying for them.
5.04.2012
More Randomness
I have a lot of random thoughts.
I've gotten really good at using Southwest's website this week. I hope that I like the Las Vegas airport, as I have a few layovers there this summer. Maybe I should take some change with me? ;) Just kidding, I don't want to be carrying change around in my carry-on, it would be so heavy.
The Biggest Loser finale was this week. I am so impressed with how the At-Home Prize winner did. He was eliminated from the show on week 2, so he lost most of his weight (160 pounds) on his own. As for the person who won the show... it's incredible that he lost 199 pounds, which was 51.16% of his original weight. I'm curious to see what will happen with this show. Will there be another season? Typically at finale they give us a little sneak peak to the next season, or tell us that they'll see us again on (enter date here) when the next season premieres. They didn't do either of those things, and they still say they are casting for the next season. Maybe this season was just too awful?
Our ward music chairperson arranged a beautiful medley of I Often go Walking and Teach Me to Walk in the Light. It sounds incredible and I can't wait to practice it with the youth this week.
Remember how I broke half my toe nail off last year? It looks all normal now! After showing my toenail to a guy in my ward doing his podiatry residency he told me that it would heal better if I didn't have nail polish on it... which makes me sad because I have been keeping it painted basically since the injury because it looked better that way. Maybe it would've gotten better a lot faster? Well either way, my toe nails were painted last night and I'm loving it. I got sick of looking at naked toe nails.
We're having some pretty tasty meals this next week... two things from America's Test Kitchen (Chicken & Zucchini Stir-Fry with Ginger Sauce; and Cold Sesame Noodles), a yummy Betty Crocker Lasagna, and our favorite pasta salad, Southwest Pasta Salad from Our Best Bites. I got really excited as I got all the ingredients for these things at the grocery store. I'm especially excited for my Pasta Salad. It's super yummy and makes a ton, so I'll get it for lunch for a long time! Last time I made it I even ate it for breakfast a few times.
I won a Scentsy plug-in warmer and Scentsy Bar like a week or two ago, and they came this week. The warmer is in our guest bathroom, and the bar smells like Baked Apple Pie. It is absolutely delicious, but now I want an apple pie. I want to find a local consultant who has some stock so I can come and smell the scents before I buy them... I want a good citrusy bar, but want to be able to smell it before I buy it to decide if it is the right type of citrusy goodness.
I unlocked my favorite kart on MarioKart this week. When Chris and I play together we go through his profile, and he has unlocked a lot more stuff than I have, so we always both use the Dolphin Dasher in our races. Until last night I hadn't won the cup that unlocks the Dolphin Dasher, but last night I destroyed my competition and got that car unlocked. I was really excited. This sounds really dumb, but we do sure enjoy our Mario Kart.
I got rid of Pinterest a few weeks ago. Last night I almost deleted my Facebook too. Instead I just deleted like 40 friends, mostly people that clog my newsfeed and that I never interact with. I deleted most of my cousins, at least the ones from my mom's side of the family. I don't talk to them ever. I even deleted some of my old roommates... of course not my roommates from my freshman year. I would never delete 215.
That reminds me. Jenny is getting married tomorrow. Like, within the next 24 hours. I am so excited for her! I'm kind of jealous of my mom. My mom gets to see Jenny sometime next week and meet the new husband. I haven't met Mike yet. And I'm letting him marry Jenny. I hope SOMEONE from 215 met him and gave our official apartment approval? And Jenny doesn't count.
That also reminds me that two of my favorite people, that have August 3rd birthdays will now have May 5th anniversaries. Congrats tomorrow to Jenny & Mike, as well as Happy Anniversary to Marissa & Terry! I have a few other friends with August 3rd birthdays. I guess they'll have to have May 5th weddings as well. Then I'll always remember their anniversary.
Simply Orange makes some of the tastiest orange juice I have ever had. Today we bought Simply Orange with Pineapple juice. It is amazing as well. I'm glad that Simply Orange has been giving away coupons on their Facebook page. That was seriously one of the reasons that I decided not to delete my facebook yesterday. I didn't want to miss out on more orange juice coupons. Lame? Yeah, but that's just how I roll.
I guess that is enough randomness for right now. I'm sure I could go on and on.
Oh, how about Blistex's new Raspberry Lemonade Chapstick! It is divine, and I found it for only 97 cents at HEB. I still prefer my Burt Bees Mango Chapstick, but the Raspberry Lemonade is delicious as well.
I've gotten really good at using Southwest's website this week. I hope that I like the Las Vegas airport, as I have a few layovers there this summer. Maybe I should take some change with me? ;) Just kidding, I don't want to be carrying change around in my carry-on, it would be so heavy.
The Biggest Loser finale was this week. I am so impressed with how the At-Home Prize winner did. He was eliminated from the show on week 2, so he lost most of his weight (160 pounds) on his own. As for the person who won the show... it's incredible that he lost 199 pounds, which was 51.16% of his original weight. I'm curious to see what will happen with this show. Will there be another season? Typically at finale they give us a little sneak peak to the next season, or tell us that they'll see us again on (enter date here) when the next season premieres. They didn't do either of those things, and they still say they are casting for the next season. Maybe this season was just too awful?
Our ward music chairperson arranged a beautiful medley of I Often go Walking and Teach Me to Walk in the Light. It sounds incredible and I can't wait to practice it with the youth this week.
Remember how I broke half my toe nail off last year? It looks all normal now! After showing my toenail to a guy in my ward doing his podiatry residency he told me that it would heal better if I didn't have nail polish on it... which makes me sad because I have been keeping it painted basically since the injury because it looked better that way. Maybe it would've gotten better a lot faster? Well either way, my toe nails were painted last night and I'm loving it. I got sick of looking at naked toe nails.
We're having some pretty tasty meals this next week... two things from America's Test Kitchen (Chicken & Zucchini Stir-Fry with Ginger Sauce; and Cold Sesame Noodles), a yummy Betty Crocker Lasagna, and our favorite pasta salad, Southwest Pasta Salad from Our Best Bites. I got really excited as I got all the ingredients for these things at the grocery store. I'm especially excited for my Pasta Salad. It's super yummy and makes a ton, so I'll get it for lunch for a long time! Last time I made it I even ate it for breakfast a few times.
I won a Scentsy plug-in warmer and Scentsy Bar like a week or two ago, and they came this week. The warmer is in our guest bathroom, and the bar smells like Baked Apple Pie. It is absolutely delicious, but now I want an apple pie. I want to find a local consultant who has some stock so I can come and smell the scents before I buy them... I want a good citrusy bar, but want to be able to smell it before I buy it to decide if it is the right type of citrusy goodness.
I unlocked my favorite kart on MarioKart this week. When Chris and I play together we go through his profile, and he has unlocked a lot more stuff than I have, so we always both use the Dolphin Dasher in our races. Until last night I hadn't won the cup that unlocks the Dolphin Dasher, but last night I destroyed my competition and got that car unlocked. I was really excited. This sounds really dumb, but we do sure enjoy our Mario Kart.
I got rid of Pinterest a few weeks ago. Last night I almost deleted my Facebook too. Instead I just deleted like 40 friends, mostly people that clog my newsfeed and that I never interact with. I deleted most of my cousins, at least the ones from my mom's side of the family. I don't talk to them ever. I even deleted some of my old roommates... of course not my roommates from my freshman year. I would never delete 215.
That reminds me. Jenny is getting married tomorrow. Like, within the next 24 hours. I am so excited for her! I'm kind of jealous of my mom. My mom gets to see Jenny sometime next week and meet the new husband. I haven't met Mike yet. And I'm letting him marry Jenny. I hope SOMEONE from 215 met him and gave our official apartment approval? And Jenny doesn't count.
That also reminds me that two of my favorite people, that have August 3rd birthdays will now have May 5th anniversaries. Congrats tomorrow to Jenny & Mike, as well as Happy Anniversary to Marissa & Terry! I have a few other friends with August 3rd birthdays. I guess they'll have to have May 5th weddings as well. Then I'll always remember their anniversary.
Simply Orange makes some of the tastiest orange juice I have ever had. Today we bought Simply Orange with Pineapple juice. It is amazing as well. I'm glad that Simply Orange has been giving away coupons on their Facebook page. That was seriously one of the reasons that I decided not to delete my facebook yesterday. I didn't want to miss out on more orange juice coupons. Lame? Yeah, but that's just how I roll.
I guess that is enough randomness for right now. I'm sure I could go on and on.
Oh, how about Blistex's new Raspberry Lemonade Chapstick! It is divine, and I found it for only 97 cents at HEB. I still prefer my Burt Bees Mango Chapstick, but the Raspberry Lemonade is delicious as well.
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