...and last night on girls gone wild...

the girls (erin, steph, amber, rae, anne, val, and i) all got together, as none of us could resist erin's generous offer to treat us to dessert at the meltng pot. and it doesn't take long with this gang before things start to get out of hand.

in fact, it started early when amber and steph both arrived in their melissa etheridge concert t-shirts. typically, wearing a concert t-shirt is an expression of support for an artist, but when two girls are both wearing a concert t-shirt, and that artist is melissa etheridge, it says something else entirely, and we were not about to let them off easy! (the subject of the photo to the left asked to remain anonymous, so it will just be our little secret amber!)

once the chocolate came, the rest of us were distracted. yes i know, it doesn't take much. just a pot of chocolate and our eyes start to glaze, our foreheads start to sweat, and we can no longer speak in complete sentences. but we tried, and the result was a triumph of humor. i haven't seen the girls for a couple of months, and i was reminded how amazing it is to be with a group of women with whom there is no pride or pretenses. you can absolutely be yourself, and that may be one of the greatest gifts anyone of us can receive.

amber was so much herself that she (at the completion of the divine dessert) let out one of the biggest burps i have ever heard. if you know amber, you'll know why this is so insanely funny!

after dessert, we headed over to ballston commons to catch the ne 'hottest dance movie ever'--step up. and this is what i have to say about that. yum and dumber. channing tatum may well be a perfect specimen of manhood (although i know anne blasphemously disagrees). if you enjoy a bad boy attitude, a body sculpted from marble, and a face that will break your heart just to look at it, then you will enjoy watching him in this movie. if you require any sort of plot, or your cheese kept to a minimum, you may want to pass on this one.


but it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, despite the heat in the auditorium. our fellow man-gawkers in the theater were boisterous and didn't object when we would sigh or make snide comments about how bad the movie itself was. and at the end of the final dance routine, the audience actually clapped. if that isn't an homage to the beauty of silliness, i don't know what is!



thanks erin, and the rest of the girls...my stomach hurts from laughter!

wtc and the big 3-0

just to avoid any confusion, let me state that these are two seperate topics.

in just over two weeks, i will be putting another decade behind me, and there has been some dilemma as to the appropriate way to celebrate such an event. originally, i thought a busch gardens trip would be enjoyable, but truth be told, i'm a bit amusement parked out right now. so when corey suggested atlantic city last night, it was so strange and bizarre, that i immediately took to it. i can't think of anything weirder than a bunch of mormons going to atlantic city to not gamble (except i probably will) and not drink (which i definitely won't)..which is why it is absolutely perfect!

in other news, anne, corey and i went to see world trade center last night.

anne and i saw united 93 together and it was excellent. but when the trailers started running for this one, i was skeptical. nick cage and oliver stone? i couldn't bear the thought of an over the top 'hollywood' movie documenting this event.

not to mention that there is a big part of me that struggles with whether or not enough time has passed for the production of movies such as these. i tend to lean more towards the 'its too soon' mentality because it is still so raw, but the part of me that attends movies as a historian/witness to humanity won out.

i have no negative criticism of the movie. it was not 'hollywood', not at all oliver stonish, and it seemed to convey authenticity and truth. it was moving, and powerful, and not in the least bit trite or overproduced. but i still think it is too soon.

granted, it is never too soon to remember or to honor the heroism and the sacrifices that were exhibited on september 11. it is never too soon to be reminded that despite the evil that exists in the world today, there is selflessness, and love, and true compassion. there are principles worth standing for, like courage, and hope. and there are people who will and have paid the ultimate price for those principles.

it's not too soon to remember those things or to honor them, but it is too soon for me to watch it on a big screen.

i have no business blogging today

coming back from vacation is the worst. especially when you don't have blackberry reception, and you can't manage things in small doses, so when you get back to the office it feels like the whole world exploded while you were gone.

but before it exploded, i got to spend the final day of my vacation at king's dominion. kelly has never been to a 'real' amusement park (since lagoon most certainly does not count), so she and dylan thought it would be fun to check it out, i came along to play tour guide and get even more value out of my season pass!

aside from the oppressive heat, it was awesome. i've never been to the park on a weekday, but it was empty. of course the temperature may have also played a part, but we didn't care. rides i have stood in hour (or more) lines for were having hard times filling their cars. so we took full advantage and rode some of them multiple times..at one point we just stopped getting off to get back on.

we also spent some time cooling down in the waterpark. i haven't been in some time, and while enjoyable, i found myself longing to return to the park and hop on another coaster!

we survived the heat and had a really fabulous day, which unfortunately concluded with an unnecessarily long dinner at denny's and horrible traffic on the tail end of 95 (after i had been making killer time)

it is a small price to pay however, and aside from the angst of returning to reality (otherwise known as job responsibility), i am in remarkably good shape today.

for the rest of the pics, click here.

family portrait day

anne did an excellent job pushing the button (thanks!) and dylan worked his photoshop magic for the perfect pictures!



these are definitely the best, but if you want to see more, go here.

wrapping up new york

where did i leave off. oh yes, mom and dad were going to pick up dylan and kelly. after they stopped in harmony, pa to see where the priesthood was restored, i met up with them in bath for dinner. the evening was a quiet one, i think we played cards. we played a lot of cards..rook, and nerts, and more rook.

that brings us to tuesday...

tuesday it was playtime. it was hot, but hot matters less when you are on the water.

before getting started though, i headed to the teahouse to check in on things and give the dog a good walk. many years ago my grandfather built a japanese teahouse with a glass for over a waterfall on the property. when he died he was cremated and his ashes were placed in an urn that lies at the top of the steps to this peaceful place. there are a few of you who also know that the teahouse is the setting for my death in the family film '10,000 deaths' that we put together at the reunion a couple of years ago. if you have no idea what i'm referring to, than you simply haven't had the privilege of viewing this indie film yet. i'm sure it would have taken sundance by storm, had we submitted it.

but i digress. the walk was hot, but the teahouse was still standing, and that was a relief!

after making my way back down to the house, dylan, kelly, and i did some skiing. well, they did some skiing.

as i mentioned, kelly was determined to teach me to slalom. originally i had planned on skiing with two skis first so i could get up on something, but her point about not reminding my body of what it felt like to be on two skis was completely valid, so i began attempting the feat with only one ski. i will say this. i was close.

but eventually you just wear yourself out, and i was tired. so i begged for the other ski and the instructors obliged. well apparently, i had worn myself out more than i realized and couldn't even manage to get up on two!! this was extremely frustrating, as i have been skiing since i was a young tyke. but there were a few days ahead of us, so i was optimistic.

we spent the large portion of the day on the water--we played and swam, and my aquapac came in handy yet again. it was awesome to be in the boat again, but i learned that my idea of a good time catching some serious wake-made waves and throwing the tilt to max) is not everybody's, and i think i terrified kelly a bit. eventually we made our way back to the apartment and washed up for dinner where we were joined by grandma. after dinner it was time for yet another tradition, and we headed to penn yan for ice cream at seneca farms..which is absolutely divine. i had some chocolate peanut buttery yumminess in a cone, and the rest of the gang had some shake and flurry variations going on.

and then there was wednesday...



wednesday morning dylan, kelly, and i stole wireless from the best western and headed back when we learned that the other van atta crew (aunt judy, uncle scott, and cousins, jeff, jamie, and mark) were on their way.

basically we spent the whole day goofing off. my body was so achey from the ski attempts and the crappy sleeping conditions that skiing wasn't in my cards, however, spending mucho time on the boat was. not to mention getting a lift on the jet ski my cousins had just bought. i've probably been on a jet ski before but i don't remember it, and it was fuuun!

after getting our fill of water for the day, it was time for dinner and celebrating judy's recently past birthday. my cute cousin jamie had some fun with the blue icing on the cake, but she made need to use crest whitestrips in the near future!

we finished off the cake and played games until it was time for them to head back to rochester.

thursday...

was completely chill. mom, dad, dylan and kelly went to palmyra, as kelly has not been to any church history sites before. i opted to take some personal time and spent the day reading, watching movies, and hanging out with cyra on the dock. it was fabulous.

the gang returned that evening, and we killed more time playing cards (one of my favorite vacation past times).

friday was a little different...

one of grandma's normal helpers at the b&b was out after having her wisdom teeth removed, and we were tapped for some manual labor. so we all headed up the hill to do dishes. after bonding over soapy water, we all went our separate ways. mom was off to geneva for shopping, dad was up to his usual scanning at the apartment, and dyl, kelly, and i were back in the boat.

it was far too choppy for skiing, so we decided we would give tubing a shot. the last time i was tubing, my uncle drove so fast and furiously that i was getting insane amounts of air--and hitting the water hard. there was another time that a different uncle nearly got decapitated while tubing, so i was a bit hesitant. but i didn't let it stop me. dylan was an excellent driver and i had a blast. we all agreed that it was most fun when you had an opportunity to get caught in the giganto swells off the wake.

after gasing up the boat, we swung by the house where we found dad in a canoe on his way to meet us. he paddled back to shore and we did a drive by pick up before tubing some more.

saturday...

we got up for breakfast at the b&b again, and oh was it divine. some blueberry cream cheese thing and a banana flambe type thing. wow. after indulging ourselves all but mom took the golf cart to make our rounds of the properties landmarks; majesty in the field of dreams, the labyrinth, the tree house, the tea house, and the lady of the lake. we found all were as we had left them.

we dropped off the golf cart, packed up and headed out, saying farewell to another fabulous week at keuka lake.

sadness.

there are of course, a million photos, and you can find them all here. i'll also be uploading some funny videos in the next couple of days..keep checking the 'videos' link in the pics|video menu to the left.