a good ‘chest’ laugh December 23, 2009

So last weekend I went to the cabin in north Georgia that I’ve been to a few times.  On the way there I stopped off at Taco Bell because I was FAMISHED.  While waiting in line I noticed some cute little festive pictures that kids colored and displayed on the wall.  My favorite was this picture, because who doesn’t love a kid colored picture of  mice?  Actually, I couldn’t take my eyes off  at the bottom and the uniqueness of the name.  I love Southern names, especially the tradition of naming a girl with two first names.  It’s cute, really!

Dest My Chester?  Really.  I didn’t even think the South could come up with names that even Utah hadn’t heard of!

Disclaimer:  I’m not really that oblivious.  After a few minutes of laughter and thinking that my ribs would crack, I realized that it actually said Destiny Chester.  Too bad.

hooked on phonics didn’t work for me December 23, 2009

At least in the South, sounding a word out phonetically won’t get you anywhere!  I’ve learned that even when I’m positive I know how a word should be said down here that I should wait for a local to say it first.  Need some examples?

Dekalb: De-’cab (your mouth should feel funny when you say this one, it’s not natural when you know how the word is supposed to be said, which still isn’t natural)

Coweta: Ka (like how the a in apple sounds)-’wheat-a

Winder: ‘Whine-der

Forsyth: Fur-’sighth (sigh, like when you’re tired, but with a lisp at the end)

Dalonega: (da-’lawn-egg-uh)

Basically I’ve been taught to do as little pronunciation as possible, say it as fast as I can, and I’ll be able to carry on conversation.  There are still a few that I can’t say after being corrected many, many times.  Do you feel silly yet?  Good.

Other words I had no idea what to think about:

Diddy: Daddy

Buggy: shopping cart

And a few things that fuel my love for Georgia in no apparent order:

1. I hear Kid Rock ‘cowboy’ daily, as if down here they need poser cowboys.  Didn’t he and Brittny Spears date?

2. Households have 2 trucks, always American made.

3. Terms of endearment: baby, sugar, honey.  Best heard when coming from an older African lady when said full of love.

4. Raining leaves is better than snow because it isn’t cold and it’s beautiful!  Especially after the leaves have turned their fall colors.

5. Every porch has a rocking chair, but I have yet to see someone in one.  You know how classy the family is based on the class of the rocking chair/s.

6. Everything is ‘blessed.’  And ‘have a blessed day’ is synonymous to ‘goodbye’ in a conversation.

7. Flaggers here are so authoritative!  Not only do they hold the stop/slow signs for road construction but they also violently point the direction in which you should go should there be any confusion.

8a. Bojangles.  Gotta wanna needa getta hava Bojangles.  Delicious famous chicken ‘n biscuits!  And for that matter, all the other restaurant chains that are HUGE down here but absent from the rest of the civilized world.

8b. Chick-fil-A on every corner.  It’s the Starbucks of the East coast.  Today I drove 5 miles and passed 3 Chick-fil-A’s on the way.  You may remember their promotion that I participated in?  I can’t wait for the next one now that I know where more are!

9. Random country stores that sell boiled (aka bowled) peanuts and are full of stuff like this one:

10. When they say there is a 10% chance of rain, you can count that as a definite.  Any chance is enough to need your umbrella close.

11. Driving over the Chattahooche on the freeways in the morning is beautiful!  Fog comes out of nowhere!  The fog is nestled between the trees above the muddy water and catches me off guard every time.  And speaking of fog, FHE was cancelled last week of class due to some heavy fog.  Maybe I didn’t visit the Central Valley of California enough times to see the ‘Valley Fog’ but I’m pretty sure it would have nothing on the fog I saw and drove through last Monday.  Other than the one second I felt claustrophobic, and when I had to drive through it, it was beautiful!

There will be many additions to this list I’m SURE.  Until then, I love Georgia and all it’s character!

Thanksgiving in the city of Brotherly Love December 2, 2009

Happy Holidays!  I love this time of year, and everything that Hallmark can’t replicate.  This Thanksgiving I went to visit my old roommate/best friend Erin and her family.  This is the first time she’s hosted Thanksgiving and she did a great job!  There was lots of company, laughs and delicious food.

As we drove up to her home in the middle of a line of row houses, Erin assured me that she lived on a ‘quiet’ street.  My heart was instantly at rest when I saw her security system at work:

We spent all day on Wednesday shopping and preparing food, and taking our sweet time doing so.  We both called our mothers for tips on how to make every recipe with precision, as we had a spectacular menu for the big day!  We spent hours (most literally) pining over the perfect grocery list after selecting what to serve.  After a few hours and a few grocery stores (Shop-Rite, Save-a-Lot, ACME, Pathmark, BJ’s and an Asian Food Store to name a few) we still hadn’t seen all the stores in the area to decide if we had enough food.  Somehow I convinced Erin that we needed 4 more pounds of butter in addition to the 3 pounds she had at home.  I’m happy to report that we did not use nearly that amount of butter despite how hard we tried!  When we got home we slaved in the kitchen to make pie crusts for some succulent apple pie, lemon sour cream pie, and also candied some pecans.  We were proud the next day when our creations had such appeal:

The rest of the day was wonderful with Erin and Jeremy, and her brother Joe as well as a few members of her branch.  We played games and ate until I had to unbutton my pants, which is always the test of a good dinner.

Erin & Co. was kind enough to indulge me in touristy attractions in the Philadelphia area.  We started at the Liberty Bell (a replica) and Independence Hall where the Constitution was signed.  The Ranger that gave us the tour was quite intense about her love for the grounds and insisted on pointing out any violation of respect.  There is something inspiring about the historical markers on the East Coast and all the struggle of our Forefathers.  I am grateful for their sacrifice, and no better way to appreciate that than Thanksgiving with someone you love.

And of course I had to partake of 2 hallmark sites in Philly

1. the Rocky stairs (yes, I did run up them and pose at the top)

2. Pat’s King of Steaks where apparently the cheesesteak was invented.  I ordered a Provolone cheesesteak.  Much to my surprise the man at the counter was too wrapped up in his production line to notice the order and gave me a cheese whiz cheesesteak.  BEST DECISION EVER.  It was delicious.  I will never eat cheese whiz again.  Unless it’s on a Pat’s cheesesteak.

And last we went to the first penitentiary in the world: Eastern State Penitentiary.  It was such an interesting self-guided tour.  The architecture was very indicative of the theory behind the treatment.  They believed in solitary confinement at first to give the prisoner time to reflect and come to God, or his senses.  Then the prison got more full and they did away with that.  I also learned about the area of the prison, ‘death row’ where the most violent prisoners went.  They had 2 hallways in the front of the cells; one for the prisoners whose cells opened with a press of a button from the guard, and one hallway for the guard.  They told the story of a dentist who came in to work on one of the prisoners there and he said he had to work through the bars and if the prisoner so much as breathed wrong the guard would blow his head to the other side of the cell.  Glad I’m not in that line of work!  The prison was inside the city limits and barely overlooked the skyline (which was non existent until the 1970s because they were not allowed to build higher than the statue of William Penn).

I had a spectacular Thanksgiving!  Thank you Bouwhuis’s for your hospitality and company!

On a different note, my dad suffered a heart attack yesterday and your prayers would be greatly appreciated.  He is doing well and responding positively to treatment.  I have no doubt he will fully recover and be fine in time.

Weekend Getaway December 2, 2009

The weekend before Thanksgiving a few friends and I went up to a VERY nice cabin by Ellijay.  The only rules were to not bring any sort of baggage (homework, stress, anything that could detract from relaxing).  This was hard for me considering I had a test on Monday that I hadn’t started studying for, but I’m happy to report I passed the test with flying colors anyway!

There was a gorgeous fireplace outside with some chairs and a table which we sat at many times to warm ourselves up.  Saturday morning was so pretty as I ate breakfast overlooking the Appalachian Mountains beyond a golf course.  We also went on a short hike where we ventured out to see a very large poplar tree:

Someone had the great idea to see how many people it would take to wrap around the tree, and this is how that turned out:

Then they tried to figure out how few people it would take to wrap around the tree.  It was a little more ridiculous:

We watched movies, played games, did puzzles, sat around and talked, ate s’mores, and did whatever we wanted to do.  It was a spectacular weekend with great company!  I’m so lucky to have such wonderful friends down here in Georgia!

It’s the edge of the world and all of western civilization November 23, 2009

Today I decided to wikipedia my pride and joy: Fremont, California.  Not advisable to research your hometown when you’re 2600 miles away and a little homesick anyway, but I was very enlightened nonetheless!

I got this from Facebook’s Fremont, California page (who knew you could become a fan of little ol’ Fremont on Facebook!?)

The demographics of Fremont are notable:White-Americans make up only 37.7% of the population, Asian-Americans make up 46.2%, Hispanics and Latinos make up 15.4%  I’m not sure where Afghans fit into the previous list (wikipedia has some issues to work out on accreditation though…) but Fremont is the home to the largest concentration of Afghans in the United States (the reason part of Fremont is called “Little Kabul).  Y’all might remember Kite Runner?  Yeah, that’s got significant reference to Fremont.

I also didn’t know some of this:

In 2006 Mission San Jose’s median home value was $831,000 and was listed on Forbes Magazine’s list of the 500 most affluent communities of the US.  Also, the median family income in Mission San Jose district was $114,595 in 2005.  I wonder if it’s the same today with unemployment?

The MLB A’s invested over $80 million in 2006 to build a new stadium and lost $24 million because locals complained of incapability of the area to handle the traffic without driving customers away.  I remember getting an earful about that.  Too bad they didn’t become the Fremont A’s!  They also said most of the A’s followers were in southern Alameda County, which I don’t know if I fully believe yet (maybe a scientific research paper would help me wikipedia?)

Back in it’s prime days Fremont was known for it’s drag strip, probably due to the GM and Toyota plant, NUMMI.

Before the 1906 earthquake, the largest winery in California was located in Fremont.  I think Napa has taken over that role now…

Mainly I loved reading about all of the landmarks I remembered there.  Just say 880, Mission Peak, Fremont Boulevard, Bay Area, Dumbarton Bridge,  and my face lights up and my heart gets beating!

(also got this from Facebook…)

My favorite memory of Fremont and the local business there was on the 4th of July a few years ago when Dale Hardware displayed these at the parade:

And the best human fireworks show I’ve seen:

Can a quite Christmas with just my parents come a little faster?!

Land of the free and home of the Braves November 15, 2009

Now that the season is over for the Braves they let the fans come in for a free tour!  I’ve never been to a Brave’s game although that will change on April 5, 2010 for the season opening game and on April 12^th when they play the Giant’s.  I used to follow MLB more closely when I lived at home.  For some reason I didn’t have much of an opportunity to keep up in Utah because they haven’t gotten the memo about gettin a team out there.  Maybe some day they’ll get a football team, too, and be all-American (in Georgia standards).

Here are a few highlights of the tour:

This is the largest baseball I’ve ever seen, and probably in history!  I can’t wait for the baseball game it’s played in.  I’ll be in the stands ready with my glove!

I’ll never understand the mascot’s in baseball.  The Brave’s mascot isn’t politically correct (Native American).  An elephant for the A’s.  And the Brewers, really?

Just two full grown girls sitting on a full grown Coke bottle chair.  Georgia might be obsessed with Coke.

The Atlanta skyline!  I’m falling in love with Georgia, and I don’t know what to do about it.  The true test will come when I go to the Brave’s/Giant’s game and see who I end up cheering for…

I went inside the locker room!  It was pretty empty, but I’m sure there is a lot of action during the season.  Especially when they’re losing a game…

This is my first time being in a pro baseball dugout!  They cleaned out all of the ‘spits.’  I’m sure they would become a liability if someone slipped on them.

I don’t know the story behind her but she probably has to do with the Olympics that were there a few years ago.  She’s looking at the torch located in downtown.  I can’t wait for baseball season to start again!!!  Every Friday night at Turner Field (Brave’s stadium) they have a fireworks show, which are displayed shooting out of a glass Coke bottle.  Let the games begin!

finding peace in our lives October 31, 2009

Last week in church I gave a talk about finding peace in our lives.  I really was impressed that I have learned a lot about finding peace and it has helped be happy.  I decided to post the talk I gave:

I took a logic class my freshman year at San Jose State and loved it even though I hardly understood any of the lectures (and I hardly remember the ones I did understand).  But I do remember the most simplistic logical sentence.  If A, then B.  A is true, therefore B is true also.

Here’s that statement related to a topic I firmly believe in: If I am seeking peace in my life, then I need to put some sort of effort in gaining peace in my life.

I’m going to make a broad statement and say that we are all searching for peace in our lives.  But since we are all in different stages in our lives and looking for different things, I can only speak for myself.  So I can say yes A is true: I am seeking peace in my life, and therefore B is also true: I am required to put some sort of effort into gaining peace.  We can even see this in the scriptures:

Doctrine and Covenants 59:23 says, ‘but learn that he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world…” Peace is a reward for righteousness, but in order to receive that peace, we must live righteously, meaning we have to do our part.  We can have peace in our lives, Heavenly Father wants us to have peace in our lives.

Elder Wirthlin said that, “peace is more than a lofty ideal.  It is a practical principle that, with conscious effort, can become a normal part of our lives as we deal with matters both large and small.”  We will have peace in our lives if we work at it.

Having peace in my life is something I’ve had to work at also.  A few ways I have found increased peace in my life are:

1. Have a positive attitude
2. Recognize the blessings that I receive come from God/ humility
3. Pray
4. Strengthen my relationship with the Savior

These are by no means the only ways to have peace in our lives, but they are the most pertinent to me, and the ones I have a testimony about.  You can call it my soap box.

1. Have a positive attitude.

It is easy to get caught up in the negative of a situation because it seems so apparent.  For example, I realized yesterday something interesting about myself while driving back from DC.  I like to travel with music on when I’m alone (even if it’s low) because that allows myself to think.  If I’m in the car with silence it’s too easy to for me to pay attention to everyone else’s driving and I get road rage.  It was easy for me to focus on the negative around me when I wasn’t trying to think of something nice or sing along to the music.

Also, being grateful and appreciating the situation we are in and looking for the good in life in hard times.  It’s not the ideal goal for all of us to stay in this single’s ward.  Because I’m talking about my goals and only assuming that yours are similar, my goal is to get married and move on with my life.  But I have learned to take advantage of the opportunities I have here that I can only have being single.  For example, moving to Atlanta, going on sporadic weekend trips, not being accountable to somebody else for my finances.  I’m excited to take the marriage step when it comes, but there is so much I can learn right here and right now while I’ve been given this opportunity to be single and get to know myself better.

Along those lines, it is important for me to surround myself in love.  I do things that make me happy, have pictures on my wall at home of things I have done with my family, and pictures of my family.  I don’t love my internship at the moment, but I love the girls I am with.  It is important to look for the good in the situations I am given and don’t dwell on the negative, always wishing my circumstances would change.

2. Recognize the blessings that I receive come from God/ humility

Alma 5:40 says, ‘whatsoever is good cometh from God.’

I am continually reminded how blessed I am.  Going back to keeping a positive attitude and looking for the good in a situation, I see all of the positive things in my life as blessings from God.

When I recognize the blessings in my life, I say a little prayer of thanks to my Heavenly Father for being mindful of me.  To me, this is a reinforcing principle, that when we show gratitude for the blessings we receive then we receive more blessings.

3. Pray

Pray for the strength to endure, for faith and fortitude to face what sometimes must be faced.

From Chrissy Fin: It was a powerful lesson that made me re-evaluate my prayers and how I am allowing myself to become to my Father in Heaven.  The more mighty my prayer, the stronger the connection.  However, the weaker prayers cause a distance in the connection.  It is completely up to us on how we want that relationship with our Father in Heaven to be.  That is why consistency is so vital.  I have a strong testimony about prayer and the power in mighty prayer.  As we pray we are showing faith and through that faith miracles come.

A couple of years ago I was facing a trial that seemed to overtake me in every way.  I was not myself, and I was feeling really depressed.  It seemed to go on forever to a mild degree.  I knew it wasn’t healthy and I knew that I wasn’t happy and didn’t have peace in my life.  I prayed a lot to the Lord to remove the pain and sorrow, but I wasn’t willing to do anything about it to get myself out of the situation.  Finally my really good friend said to me that I have to decide that I’m going to be happy, and I have to take initiative.  Asking the Lord for help was only part of the solution.

I have since learned that when I’m facing a trial to ask the Lord to help me bear the trial with an attitude of ‘what can I learn from this experience?’ and ‘what can I do to bear this trial with a positive attitude?’  It has changed my prayers, and has made me draw closer to the Lord when I need him the most.

4. Strengthen my relationship with the Savior

Elder Wirthlin said that, “attaining harmony within ourselves depends upon our relationship with our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and our willingness to emulate Him by living the principles He has given us. During the Passover feast, the Savior taught His disciples: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).”

How do we strengthen our relationship with the Savior?

I strengthen my relationship with Him by reading the scriptures; keeping sacred covenants of baptism and temple covenants; repenting of sins I have committed, and giving up my favorite sins.

On those lines Elder Scott said, “pondering the grandeur of the Atonement evokes the most profound feelings of awe, immense gratitude and deep humility.  Those impressions can provide you powerful motivation to keep His commandments and consistently repent of errors for greater peace and happiness.”

As we become familiar with the atonement and learn how the atonement can be applied to our lives in every way, then we recommit ourselves to living the gospel and in return gain peace and happiness.

My and your relationship with the Savior is the most important key to having peace in our lives.  By living by the principles He teaches and emulating His characteristics, we will receive the most spectacular gifts of peace and even more than that is eternal life.

I’ll just close with this comment by Elder Holland and a scripture:

“Whoever we are and whatever our problems, his response is always the same, forever: ‘Come unto me.’  Learn of me and follow me, and in the process I will give you answers to your prayers and rest to your souls.”

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

These are powerful blessings and promises of which I have a testimony.  We know the Lord wants us to have peace in our lives, but we cannot expect him to give us peace unless we are willing to do our part.

 

taxation without representation October 31, 2009

Last week I went to go visit the Nation’s Capitol!  I think it’s especially interesting that Washington DC is not incorporated into a state or county.  A little ironic, no?  All the license plates say ‘taxation without representation’ and I thought it funny that (even though it’s meaning is much more meaninful) the people living there are being taxed and don’t really have representation without being incorporated.

I started Monday night and headed to Cooper’s home in North Carolina.  I told Cooper that I love it up there and I want to move because there is so much character!  About every 50 yards is a little shop selling good-for-nothing goods that clutter the house and the yard.  Everything from boots to yard statues can be found in those cute little shops.  I was so tempted to stop off and get a bag of North Georgia apples or some boiled peanuts but didn’t because I didn’t have a fridge to keep them in.  The mountains were especially beautiful with the fall colors, they looked a little like this, except in real life:

Cooper’s family was so kind to house me for a night in their beautiful woodsy home.  Thanks to the MacCourtneys for their kindness and hospitality!  It’s funny to realize how small the world is, and that was especially apparent when I ended up knowing a cousin of Cooper’s grandma…  Before I left his grandpa gave me an authentic Cherokee basket made of honeysuckle and dyed with black walnuts, it’s beautiful!  Next stop: Ashley’s house in DC.

First appointment on day one was the Capitol building to check in on Congress.  We sat in on the Senate to watch them vote a judge from South Dakota in and it was cool to see those people for real!  They don’t just exist on TV and they’re just as opinionated in person.  Voting was a nonevent though because it was unanimous.  Then we tried to race over the House of Representatives but they had already gone home for the day, mind you it was 3 in the afternoon.  Maybe next time I’ll catch them!  Then we took a tour of the Capitol and I think the only thing I got from that is that each state is allowed to display 2 statues of important figures.  We also got to see the old senate room where there is a great echo spot and the democrats can spy on the republicans and vice versa.  Sneaky government officials!  The guide made up some story about how John Adams pretended to be asleep on his desk but was really listening to the other side of the room.  Here we are outside of the capitol building:

When Ashley (the girl I stayed with)’s mom (Virginia) got home we drove all around.  One destination was the temple, which is just as spectacular as anyone who’s been there has said.  And the trees!  Oh the trees were so colorful!  I knew what ‘fall colors’ were growing up.  Tan, candy apple red, pumpkin orange, goldenrod yellow.  But nowhere in my imagination were all those colors on trees!  The temple grounds were wonderful, and on Thursday I got to attend a session inside and, if possible, the inside is just as beautiful.  It is also very astonishing at night when you drive around the 395 and it stands out over the trees.  I’ve heard rumors that they had to turn down the lights at night because it was causing accidents…

We wanted to hurry and get downtown to see the sunset from Virginia’s office building but the sun wouldn’t wait for us.  Virginia works downtown on the 7th floor of the GSA building and can see pretty much everything noteworthy downtown from her balcony.  Seeing all the monuments from afar only fueled my desire to be there up close.  The city looked peaceful along the Potomac (which I kept calling Plutonic) River.

Thankfully Thursday after going to the temple we had scheduled going to every monument we could fit in.  We tried to get tickets to go to the top of the Washington Monument but that proved difficult as they handed out all of the tickets in the morning before we got there.  Next time…  But got off the Metro at the Mall and headed toward the Kennedy Center.  We were told that a free show commences at 6pm every night there and that some of them are pretty entertaining.  We showed up to a mime eating paper from a shredder and proceeding to cut it.  The audience was predominately children and I quickly decided I needed a different venue.  Ashley and I left to go walk around the deck on the 4th floor where Georgetown University is across the river, and the Air and Space monument can be seen as well as other pretty high-rises.  It was the perfect time of night at dusk to see the sunset and the monuments’ lights turn on.  We walked along the Potomac River to the Lincoln monument and all it’s glory.  It sits across the Reflection Pool from the Washington Monument with the Capital peaking from behind:

Both Ashley and I decided that it would be romantic to walk around to all of the monuments on a cool summer night, and then we ran into all of the junior high school kids on the loose…  We were able to enjoy the Korean, Roosevelt, and Jefferson Monuments, however.  The history in Washington DC is so rich, and I wished I remembered more from my Jr. High classes.  I wanted Erin with me to explain what all went on back in the day.

Friday was my museum day at the Smithsonian.  I was able to see the Hope Diamond in the Natural History Museum, and I was surprised how small it was!  Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t cry to see that on my finger  But with the fame of the diamond I was expecting something a little more Pink Panther size or bigger.  Erin, Jeremy and Juila came down from Philladelphia to spend the day and we started off going to the Holocaust Museum.  They had an overwhelming plethora of artifacts, stories, and facts.  We only lasted through half of the tour before we decided we were depressed enough.  Interesting someone even said the architecture there even makes you unsettled because nothing is square and it feels suppressive.  Then we went to the Air and Space Museum where Erin, who knows me so well, was taken off guard at my interest in space.  I wanted to see more of the universe like stars and galaxies, but I got to see the spaceship that landed on the moon!  Oh to be Kevin Bacon and be a part of Apollo 13 in his cute little astronaut suit.  I could have spent a week just at the museums, but one day had to suffice.  It was so nice to spend the day with Erin and Co for the day.  I also loved dinner at a Lebanese place with her brother Joe and cake and ice cream at his house after!  Thanks for making the trek!

My favorite part of DC?  At the Metro stations they have this:

I kept asking Ashley what they did here and her response confused me the first few times.  She said that instead of taking a cab you can have someone drop you off and they give you a kiss as you get on the Metro.  I was thinking, sign me up!  Then she told me when she takes her mom there in the morning she drives up to the Kiss N Ride to drop her mom off, and it was nothing more than a drop off place.  I was a little disappointed, but it has a great name!

Before I headed back to the homeland on Saturday Ashley and her mom took me to see the Great Falls.  This is where the Potomac River takes a 76 foot drop over one mile, but we only hiked about 1/2 mile and saw the pinnacle of the falls:

I know, right?  Great picture with my hair blowing in the wind.  I’ll send it to People Magazine.  But just bask in those trees for a tiny second:

The ride home was also enjoyable as I got to see plenty of countryside in the South.  This last picture is for Cecilie, who on occasion still calls me “Wawa” like she did when she couldn’t say her L’s and R’s at 3 years old…

It was a great trip!  Kudos to you for reading it all!

oh a sailor’s sky made a perfect sunset October 12, 2009

This weekend I went to Savannah, Georgia!  I spent most of the day on Saturday at the beach of the Atlantic Ocean.  The biggest realization down there was that the sunsets aren’t on the beach!  Living all my beach life on the west coast it naturally follows that at the end of the day Mother Nature paints a beautiful sunset to polish off a perfect beach day marinading in the sun!  I couldn’t believe when the sky started getting dark and I couldn’t see the water but I could still see the expensive beach houses and sunset BEHIND me.  Nonetheless, my peaceful nap with the crashing wave ambiance in the background was just what the doctor called for.

Savannah was everything I’d hoped for.  I drove down with 3 other people from my ward out here on Friday night.  We spent the car ride playing a $1 get-to-know-you card game and 20-questions and drove in around midnight.  I knew after I got out of the shower in the morning that blowing my hair dry would be a nonevent and realistically useless.  This proved to be more than correct.  We spent the morning walking around River Street which is a typical village shop street along the Savannah River in thick humidity.  There was a cute little candy store that caught my attention called “River Street Sweets.”  The moment I walked in the door there was a wave of caramel and chocolate sensation that overcame me.  I was a sucker for the fresh candy and bought some rocky road (I’m my mother’s child) and some caramel pecans.  For some reason we rushed out of the pleasant riverside walk to get back to the rest of the town.  Along the road we parked was green grass and tall trees covered in Spanish Moss.

We wanted to go to the Colonial Park Cemetery and it was about 10 blocks away.  No problem, right?  Except that the humidity was more than sticky and walking around stimulates increased perspiration on the skin.  My normally straightish hair was turning very curly through my up-do.  It was such a pretty day though with the sun shining through the gorgeous trees.  Savannah is rich with US history and on the way to the cemetery were cannons, historical markers and tributes to heroes.  We passed by the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist which was so elaborate in artwork and architecture.

Also unknown to many is that Savannah, GA is the birthplace of Juliet Gordon Low, founder of Girl Scouts of America.  Being the Girl Scout I used to be I had to take a picture with her sign.

By this point in the day we were exhausted and sweaty so we decided to go to the beach.  The day that was humid, sunny and beautiful turned into a pouring, flooding mess and we hydroplaned our way to the coast.  Thankfully the storm was on it’s way to sea and by the time we got to the beach it was only sprinkling and warm enough to put our feet in the water.  The clouds parted and gave way to a few good picturesque scenes:

And for fun:

I loved Savannah and plan on going back!

a little excessive Georgia, really October 12, 2009

fact: Georgia has 158 counties and California has 58.  Georgia’s population is 9.6 million, California’s population is 33.8 million.  A little excessive Georgia?  I think so.  A native Georgian told me that Georgia has a law that they can only have so many counties in the state.  This has caused problems in Fulton county because the north side is very affluent and the city of Atlanta (the south part) seems to use all the funds for their own personal use without contributing to the honey pot.  Wow.  I go through 3 different counties to get to church, and it’s only 15 miles away!  Apparently in junior high here everybody has to learn all the counties names and where they are.  I’d never make it!

Here’s a little visual of what I’ve been having a hard time wrapping my head around:

and a map of California:

Keep in mind the size of these states.  Do you see what I mean?!