more defense of the xy

not too long ago, steph recounted some experiences that reminded her that men are wonderful. or how wonderful wonderful men are. as women, we often find ourselves discussing their shortcomings. i don't know really know why--i guess somehow it makes us feel better. but sometimes you have those moments when you think 'men are truly amazing.'

i had one of those moments on sunday. i was driving jeremy and corey back from dropping off jeremy's 'work' vehicle, and i stopped for gas in preparation for the trek home later that night.

it was raining. and cold. i pulled up to the pump, and corey hopped out while saying, 'i got this'. simultaneously, jeremy noticed a man on the other side of the station trying to push his car to the pump. before he could finish the sentence 'i wonder if that guy needs help,' he was jumping out of the car to lend a hand.

perhaps this seems insignificant, but i found a great deal of gratitude in knowing that i am blessed by men in my life who exhibit thoughtful and selfless behavior.

weekend update

so, i took friday off. even though jeremy had a full work day ahead of him, i wanted to sleep in, maybe get a manicure, and just generally take it easy until i left for richmond at about 3. it was my hope that i would miss the worst of the mixing bowl traffic by leaving a bit early.

ah, the best laid plans... i woke up earlier than i hoped with a massive headache, and the day did not get much better from there. i felt generally off my game, and though i did leave on schedule, the traffic gods were conspiring against me. i spent two hours getting 10 miles past the mixing bowl, so by the time it was all said and done, the drive was four hours (instead of the normal 2 1/2).

but fortunately, the reward at the end of the journey was well worth it. seeing jeremy for the first time in two weeks somehow melted all the driving tension away.

we headed out to dinner where we had more food then i can ever remember seeing on one table. seriously, i don't remember ever being so stuffed! after dinner, we headed to mission impossible 3. overall an enjoyable movie. it's mission impossible, so you know what you are in for. i did have to consciously try and forget that tom cruise is crazy, but philip seymour hoffman and jonathan rhys myers helped.

the most 'laugh out loud' moment of the evening..as we were leaving the theater, jeremy noticed something on his windshield. he assumed that it was a flyer. but upon closer inspection, it was a little love note from one of his 'fans', asking why he had come to the movie without her, and when was she going to make time for him. as he was reading, i noticed the lipstick scrawled on the driver's side window.

i could not have been more amused, and playfully accused him of setting it up just to raise his stock value! but as it turned out, it became even funnier when he learned two days later that it had not in fact been the girl he suspected (based on the signed note), but a good friend of his pretending to be her. now that, is a good joke.

saturday was king's dominion day. a couple of months ago, lara knew i was having a rough time, so she suggested a day at king's dominon. a little coaster therapy is always a good thing. we had selected the 6th, not knowing if it would work out, but it did. the group grew, and the time had finally come. jeremy was a bonus, because when we planned the activity, he and i had not yet met.

that morning, before heading to the park, i got my first taste of jeremy's bike. i like bikes, cause i'm a girl. and guys with bikes are hot. so it was to my great pleasure that he took me out for a spin before heading to king's dominion to meet the gang. it was a gorgeous day, and there is just something about a bike that is very freeing. the ride put us just a little behind schedule, but when we returned to his his place, i got in my car and followed him to king's dominion.

he was going to have to bail out early to do some work, so the two vehicles provided a bit more flexibility. by the time we got there, the rest of the group had already arrived. we picked up our season passes and headed to meet up with them.

when we did, everyone was amused by the fact that anne and i had worn the same outfit. black shirt, identical old navy jean capris, and nike air rifts. what can i say? great minds think alike!

it was an absolutely gorgeous day, and the lines were relatively small. we spent the morning on a couple of coasters and smaller rides, and just generally enjoying the company and the day.

ladies, is it just me, or when you think about amusement parks, do you think about how great it is or would be to have a boy with you? maybe it stems back to my teenage years, but in my head, it's one of the greatest places to be attached at the hip to someone you are diggin. probably the combination of hormones and roller coaster thrills.

i've never really had that before so it was especially sweet. i got to enjoy one of my favorite things with someone i adore. it was made even better by the fact that this was the first time lara, corey, and anne were getting to meet the guy i have been telling them about. so to see that interaction go well, even though expected, was still a relief.

random tangent. those of you who have been to king's dominion will appreciate this. there is a ride called 'the avalanche', which is a bobsled coaster. not a real 'thrill' ride, but enjoyable. the thing about this ride is that it is the most awkward ride ever. two people per car, and the front person basically sits in the lap of the back person. if you are a girl who is not 100 pounds, this can be very strange. the maneuvering of the getting in and out with your butt in the face of the person behind you is enough to send even a confident girl over the edge. there is no graceful way to do it. it's just plain clumsy. every time i have ever been at king's dominion, this ride has caused me great consternation. who would i be sitting with? would i be totally embarrassed? would they be totally uncomfortable? so for the first time ever, i was ready for this ride.

but at about 2, jeremy had to head out for work, and we hadn't hit the avalanche, so i gave up on the idea of putting the 'fear' of this ride to bed once and for all.

the rest of us continued our playing. the lines did get longer as the park got more crowded, but we still managed to get in some good ones. and after a couple of hours, while we were waiting in line for one of my guilty pleasures--the swings--i looked at corey and said 'okay, i'm ready for jeremy to come back now.' then my phone rang.

jeremy was back. how is that for timing?;) shortly after the swings, the group decided to head for the avalanche. again, could the timing have been any better? in fact i was able to get over my awkwardness about the ride, and don't remember it ever being so much fun!

we spent the rest of the day hitting the remaining coasters. short of some wrangling (we couldn't get all of our bathroom and food stops in synch), it was an absolutely fabulous day.

we decided to repeat some of the coasters for jeremy's (and for our) benefit, which put us riding the volcano ride in the dark. i have never been on that ride at night and it was amazing!! with our sight sense deprived, the ride seemed faster and more exciting. i am going to have to remember that for next time!

after the volcano, anne, holly, katie, and rachel decided to split off and hit some smaller rides, while lara, ben, corey, jeremy and i decided to go on tomb raider again. it was still a bit of a wait, but well worth it. not only did the nighttime enhance the experience, but the ride operator decided to give us an extended version, that had us all laughing and screaming.

it was about that time we realized that the ride i had been hoping for, but which had been closed earlier in the day, reopened, so we headed to the drop zone. we ended up being on the last ride of the night, and it was awesome. i am a lover of free fall, and there aren't a lot of rides that still give me butterflies, but that one does. every time. corey and i got some footage of the going up and going down so we can relive it over and over.


we closed down the park and headed to lara's car to grab corey's stuff. then he and jeremy and i headed back to jeremy's place. he dropped us off, saw us settled, and headed back for part two of his work day. he had picked up a side job of playing escort and designated driver so that some colleagues could attend the races.

corey and i started a movie, but i was exhausted, so i headed to bed.

saturday morning, we all overslept a bit. jeremy quickly got ready for stake conference where his melchezidek priesthood was being sustained, and i had one of those moments. he was finishing his preparation, standing in the bathroom with his suit on, and he actually took my breath away. i am a sucker for a man in a suit, and especially this one. i just looked at him and for a moment i could not breathe.

when jeremy returned, the three of us had some breakfast and headed to meet up with corey's sister and brother-in-law who had flown in the night before to check out housing options for their upcoming move. corey's brother-in-law will be attending dental school, so jeremy agreed to play tour guide.

he did an excellent job and we saw quite a bit of richmond. we visited a few apartment complexes, and at one of them i suffered some serious deja vu.

a few years ago, my long-time friend leah and her husband were living in richmond, while david attended school. i had spent some time at the beach with david's family, and his brother and i had gotten along pretty well. so one saturday, i drove down to richmond for a date with him, and stopped at leah and david's first. as we were driving into one of the complexes, i realized i was in her old stomping grounds, and found it a bit ironic that the last time i had been there, it was for a boy, yet here i was, years later, for the same reason, but in a much better situation!

at any rate, we all grabbed some dinner, made a couple more drive by's, and dropped cami and matt back off at their hotel.

corey, jeremy, and i headed back to his place to pick up my car for a drop off. jeremy had left his bike at his colleagues home, and taken his car, since he had come back so late on saturday night. it was raining, which meant he wouldn't be able to drive his bike back, so we followed him to rich's, dropped off the car, and went back to the house.

on the way back, he called his friends patrick and katrina, who i had heard a lot about, to see if they wanted to come over to watch a movie. it was my first 'friend test'. you know what i'm talking about, it's when someone feels you might be sticking around long enough that they want to get a read on what their friends think of you and how you'll interact. it was exactly what i had done to him on saturday, it wasn't set up that way, it just happened that way. and though i know men think differently than women, i knew he would be interested in their thoughts and opinions.

unfortunately, i was exhausted and anticipating a late night drive home, so i wasn't in my best form. fortunately, however, they saw through that or ignored it, and according to jeremy, i passed the first test (although he didn't call it a test). even more fortunately for me, i liked them. there is almost nothing worse than when you like someone and can't stand their friends or family, so it was a relief to make it through round one successfully!

we watched the italian job, and it was time to head out. it was raining, and my car was acting a little funny, but corey and i still made decent time, and about 1am i was able to call it a night.

all in all, it was an awesome weekend. it was great to get some extended time with jeremy, to have my friends meet him (they all approve), and to meet a couple of his. unfortunately, it makes the distance factor that much more difficult, so we'll do what we can and see how it goes:)

for the rest of the pics, click here.
for corey's account, click here.
for corey's king's dominion videos, click here, here, and here.

i love me some nashville star y'all

top ten reasons why

10. the panel of judges consists of phil vassar...and some other people
9. the quality of talent
8. lots of cowboy hats and belt buckles
7. casey rivers
6. actual song writers
5. a 6'5" rapping cowboy named cowboy troy
4. wynona judd's house coats and inability to read cue cards
3. chris young
2. phil vassar sings (to me) in every episode
1. jason aldean performing on the season finale

everyone needs a good laugh

have you guys seen this? holy cow, my stomach hurts!

united 93

in the span of two hours, in a darkened theater, nearly five years of memory and experience dissipated, and it was the morning of september 11, 2001.

since seeing the trailer for the very first time, i have been waging an internal battle as to whether of not i would see this film. the conflict is understood by many of you, i'm sure; truth v. fiction, hollywood v. humanity. but as i am a glutton for punishment (especially of the self-inflicted variety), when anne mentioned that she was going, somehow my decision was made.

i was not surprised at how vividly my own memories of that day came rushing back, but i was surprised at how incredibly well the movie was crafted. it was carefully pieced together as a collage of events that told a greater story. it did not demonize or glorify. it simply reminded. it maintained an incredible amount of integrity and told the story with poignancy and thoughtfulness. and it evoked a series of powerful emotions, that have lain dormant for some time.

if ever their was a movie deserving of a re-write, this would be it. but history writes itself, and this was one case in which there was no happy hollywood ending. at least by recreating a piece of that day, i felt the movie paid a high tribute to the lives that were lost and to the lessons that were learned.