hello bandwagon, i'm jumping on

steph--i know this doesn't surprise you...

the good news and the bad news

bad news first. in an inexplicable technical malfunction, the likes of which i've never encountered before, on day three of the london trip, when attempting to copy the day's photos to my comp, i found my memory card had been wiped clean.

now the good news. because i am entirely too organized, i had already uploaded day 1 and 2's photos, so day 3 was the only victim. while i did cry a little bit about the loss of the portabello road pics and vids, and the dozen or so i made deb take of me at shakespeare's globe, in the end perspective is good, and at least it was only one day's worth. fortunately, deb did take a few photos of her own, so there is at least some record.

explanations of the pics will be forthcoming, but for now at least the voyeur in you can be satiated. find them here.

i'm baaaack

it was an incredible trip, but i’m feeling quite overwhelmed with work at the moment. i hope to have pics posted by this evening and the trip report completed by this weekend.

it's that time of year again

with thanksgiving's rapid approach, it is certain that christmas will be hot on its heels, and as if teaching weren't enough, i've been asked to write and narrate this year's christmas program.

i love christmas, and over the last several years have made great efforts to ignore the commercialized aspects and to focus on the truly important principles. so in a way, i'm honored to be asked to give voice to perhaps the most retold story in all of history.

i know myself well enough to know that i will not be content with the 'same 'ol' christmas program, and have some ideas, but i am curious, dear readers, looking back, is there a program that was especially memorable to you? if yes, what made it so?

i'm in a strange mood tonight and my mind is on overdrive

i would qualify this as another episode of short attention span theater, since i will be all over the board, but i don't expect it to be short, and that's just false advertising.

so here goes long attention span theater?!

1.

let me tell you the story of two people we'll call 'jill and corey'. we'll call them that because those are their names. at any rate, let me chronicle my association with these two.

jill and i met in high school. we didn't go to the same high school, but we were in the same ward, and began a friendship that unbeknownst to us would still be alive almost 15 years later.

our paths have woven in and out of one another over those years, but i could never predicted the quilt those threads would form.

then there's corey. ah corey. perhaps the greatest gift i received from my short stint as mid-singles co-chair for ashburn stake, was corey.

at our first activity, there were a couple of new faces, one of which belonged to a quiet, resrved, shy guy who appeared on the scene from out of nowhere. truth be told, i didn't give him too much thought at first. but at every activity, there he was. always ready and willing to participate and to help. i don't even entirely know how it happened looking back on it now (mostly through his great effort and persistance probably) but we ended up becoming good friends. in fact he turned into a lifesaver and absolute rock in a very difficult time for me. when i needed someone the most, he was there.

so fast forward (or rewind, depending on your perspective)to this spring, when corey and i decided we wanted to pseudo-participate in the annual duck beach infestation, but didn't want to be out of control or our environment. so we decided to put a house together. there were some concerned moments as we tried to fill spots and cancellations were made, but we ended up with a full and fabulous house.

i was especially excited that my friend jill would be joining us from baltimore. i mentioned to corey that he might *like* her, but other than that didn't give it too much thought. until jill approached me on one of our last night's at the beach to ask me what my 'cute friend corey's story was.'

and the rest is history! they have been together since then and are absolutely perfect for one another. corey proposed tonight and jill accepted.

i've been giving them a hard time telling them how much they owe me, but the truth is (as i told jill tonight), there are not many greater rewards then having two people you love find happiness with one another.

so again i offer my congratulations and my YAY!!!

2.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 2 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

one of them is me so who is this other chick!?

3.

i'm a little in love with myspace. truth be told, when i was originally invited to join, i wanted nothing to do with it. from what i could tell, it was a bunch of people wearing far too little clothing sending messages to eachother. not exactly my scene. until the day that it all changed.

my 10 year reunion was a couple of years ago, and i didn't go. but it's not what you think. unlike most people, i had a grand ol' time in high school. those were good years for me. i had great friends, i felt good about myself (for the most part), i found and nurtured my true passion and niche in theater.

though i would have labeled myself a 'drama geek,' the label isn't entirely accurate. i was certainly not the most popular girl in school, but i had a lot of friends. friends who were in drama, and in band, and color guard. and friends that played football and basketball, and wrestled. friends that were cheerleaders, friends who were 'journalists,' and friends that defied categorization.

i went to senior prom as a sophmore with a guy that i still adore and am still in touch with (hi aaron). i played basketball, served as thespian president, and homecoming princess. my high school experience (barring the actual school part) was diverse and rewarding. i attribute my generally healthy self-esteem and diverse interests to that formative stage of life.

for that reason, i was excited to go to my 10 year reunion. i have fond memories and was genuinely interested in where people had ended up. but my class officers were lame. they didn't announce the reunion until two months before, and they scheduled it over thanksgiving. while i would have been able to attend, i found that according to the rsvp list, none of the people i was interested in seeing would be, so i didn't go.

there have been a few people that i have thought of often over the years and wondered about. i was locked in on one particular old friend for a long time, but i couldn't find him anywhere. i googled him, checked the alumni sites often, and nothing. then one day i decided i had exhausted my other resources, and myspace was gaining popularity, so i thought i'd give it a shot.

though i didn't find him, i was pleasantly surprised to find his brother, who quickly put us in touch. it put a smile on my face to hear about what he had been up to over the last decade and to know that life had treated him well.

since that time i have found and been found by several other junior high, high school, and college classmates. every time, it makes me giggle just a little. i've found three more this week, and when i look at their photos and read their blogs and profiles it makes me all warm and fuzzy.

i find that i still feel connected to them even though it has been years and years since i have been in touch with most of them. maybe it is because we shared the turbulence of our teenage years together, or maybe it is because these are the people who helped make those teenage years memorable and enjoyable, and for that alone, there is comfort and joy in learning of their progression in life.

needless to say, i have been unwittingly won over by myspace.