Friday, April 29, 2011

Writing Letters

Firstly, writing, sending, and getting letters always brightens my day.  
Second, I got sealing wax for Christmas... and it makes sending letters even better.
I'm sure the elders out in the field are like, "what the..."
But come on, it's like "Hello Hogwarts I'm off to be a wizard!" 
Who wouldn't want a letter sealed like this?

Even more fantastic, the first letter of my name.
 I feel like the Scarlet Pimpernel. 
"Sink me"

I wish we wrote letters more. And sealed with wax. 

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Le Papillon

One of my good friends saw this movie in a class and thought/knew I would love it. She knows me well. It's adorable. And I will probably buy it. During the end credits they play this song. It captures the back and forth nature of Elsa and Julien; Elsa always asking questions, Julien answering with riddles. (The first comment under the video has the translation for when they speak in the middle of the song. Check that out too while you listen.) Anyways, I loved it. I loved the piano music throughout the movie and the song at the end. I loved the actors for Elsa and Julien. They played the part perfectly. Very cute movie.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Experimenting

Natalie and I got looking at different hair styles online, (braids were of course included) and we came across this Halo Braid. So I decided to try it out on her. (I am not talented enough to try it on myself.)

It's hard working the braid up the side of someone's head. I'm sure it gets easier as you do it more but for the last couple of years, I've only braided downward. It still turned out pretty good. And that's with Natalie's extremely thin, clean hair. 



 Pretty cool right?!


The second hair style I tried was a combination of multiple things we looked at. Basically, I just tried whatever I wanted. :)





Overall, I'm pleased with how this turned out. It did take all of my bobby pins and I doubt it would be extremely comfortable to wear all day. And it would've been much easier if I had been working with day-old hair. I know, it sounds gross, but hair that has had a day to...get dirty I guess... is so much easier to work with. And Natalie's was not day-old hair. 
But hey, she was a good sport about me shoving bobby pins willy-nilly, ratting, and hair-spraying her hair to death. I enjoyed myself.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Flipped

My family got this movie for Christmas and I finally got around to watching it. And I'm blogging about it so it obviously was a fantastic movie. The movie has the same feel to it as Little Manhattan. Okay, it's pretty much exactly the same, but Flipped has a bit more depth to it, more of a story, more character development, and both sides are shown throughout the movie. Plus I love the time period and the look of the cinematography in Flipped. And honestly, that boy is straight up adorable. Adorable sounds strange, but I am 20, and he is portraying a boy in jr. high and I don't want to sound completely creepy. But come on, that face has major potential. I mean what 16 year old looks like this?! Ah the injustice of life. But hey, someone has to get all the looks right?

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Jane Eyre

I tried reading this book a long time ago when I was younger, and I was just so bored and couldn't get through it in the least, so I left it untouched after that. Well, I have trained Natalie in my good taste of books and for her to be so in love with this book, was questionable to me. And I couldn't allow my younger sister to surpass me with reading and loving classics that I haven't read all the way through so... I of course had to attempt the book again. Plus there's a Jane Eyre frenzy going on right now with the new movie released so I jumped on the bandwagon. And I love the broadway music for Jane Eyre, so why not read the book and get a much clearer understanding of the storyline?
I don't know where I got stuck in the book when I was younger, because I did not think any of it was too slow, or dragging. I love that language. I wish we still spoke like that. I love the conversations they have, Mr. Rochester's personality is completely bewitching and I love it. Jane is fantastic, she is a perfect mix of independence, womanhood, strength, values, intelligence etc...
Also, what a great love story! And it has substance and depth to it. I love how they study each other out in silent ways for months, learning character by actions done. Neither Jane nor Edward are extremely attractive and gorgeous, (except in my mind, Edward is completely handsome) so it's not just vain, superficial love. They do think each other is attractive, but they are in love with the person itself and not appearance, because appearance was not what first attracted them.
Anyways, I'm just in love with this story. And side note, the broadway music is fantastic and guess what else? They use direct lines from the book in the lyrics. Basically I was hearing Jane/Edwards voice in my head (from the soundtrack) while I read the book. Completely fantastic.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Spaghetti Limone Parmeggiano

Found this recipe the other day and decided to try it out. This is the second time I've made it and I'm still loving it. 
 First, start cooking the meat (I added meat to the recipe, much better), and get the noodles boiling. 


 Next we make the sauce, composed of basically lemon zest and juice, Parmesan cheese, pepper, salt and extra virgin olive oil.

The cheese will melt and turn into more of a paste once you add the pasta and pasta water. 

Once the sauce has been made, we add the chicken and pasta. 

Sprinkle in some fresh basil leaves. 

And finish! You have a delicious chicken/pasta dish. Honestly it tastes so light and fresh. It makes me picture warm, warm summer days with an ice cold lemonade. 

Spaghetti Limone Parmeggiano
3/4 box of spaghetti (I used either fettuccine or linguine. I just like thicker pasta.)
Coarse salt
1 lemon
1 1/2 cups finely grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 1/2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3-5 Tbsp. pasta water, to thin sauce
Handful fresh basil leaves
Chicken (I added the chicken into the recipe and just cook up whatever amount I think works, but cut into bite sized pieces).

1. Boil spaghetti in salted boiling water (DON'T TOSS OUT PASTA WATER) and start cooking chicken in olive oil.
2. Grate zest from lemon into large mixing bowl (not a lot of zest). Cut lemon in half and squeeze juice into bowl (again very little).
3. Add Parmesan cheese, pepper, and a pinch of salt, mix in olive oil to form a wet paste.
4. Once pasta is cooked add 2-3 Tbsp. of cooking water to lemon/cheese mixture. Add spaghetti and chicken to bowl, adding more cooking water if necessary. Stir.
5. Roughly tear in basil leaves.
6. Serve with a sprinkle of salt, pepper and few gratings of extra Parmesan cheese.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Eric Hutchinson

Alright so he hasn't got the whole look down of singing and playing the piano at the same time, little goofy there but still, I love his music. (And the effects with the lyrics in the video... I basically just watched the video to watch the lyrics.) He's got this Jason Mraz feel, Nathan Angelo/James Morrison sound, and some Jamie Cullum piano. (No artist is truly original anymore.) Some of you might know him from his radio hit song, Rock & Roll, which is classic goodness. I mean even he can't resist the rhythm of his own music, he bobs up and down during the whole music video. But he's not a one hit wonder. The rest of the songs on his CD are just as good. So if you're in the need of some music, check out my friend, Eric Hutchinson.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Singles Ward

So I'm officially graduated from BYU-Idaho. Not anything grand, associates in generals, I know how extremely exciting... But! Hey now all my credits will transfer nicely. My radiology program starts in the fall and it's a 2 year program. Most of my time will be at the American Fork hospital, which means I'm going to save money and live at home.
Brief update, I have not lived in one place for more than 4 months for the past 2 years of my life. I've moved into a new apartment every semester, new ward, new roommates.
And now I'm here, for 2 years, attending the same singles ward for this period of time. Weird for me.
But I've decided to change some things. Like my attitude.
Before my attitude was along the lines of, what can this ward do for me and where are the cute guys?
My mom would always lecture me about instead seeing what I can do for the ward. But did I listen? Of course not. That speech went right over my head and I kept my attitude.
But like I said, change is happening.
I'm trying to become involved in this ward.
FHE, ward prayer, institute, ward temple night.
I don't really have any friend friends in the ward, I sat by myself again in sunday school today. But guess what? I don't care. I was taught some great things, and had some of my own great insights. Isn't that what church should firstly be about? Church? Taking the sacrament? Learning the gospel?
I shouldn't just hang up a ward after a quick glance through the menu.
That's just being selfish.
I'm trying.
It's hard to completely involve yourself sometimes.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Mousy

Meet Jerry. (You know, like Tom and Jerry, the cartoon.) 
He's a new addition to our home.
Question: What girl would ever answer a guy to prom by giving him a mouse in a mouse wheel?
Answer: Whoever Nate is taking to prom.  

We didn't know what to do with Jerry and afraid of him getting out of his box, we put tin foil over the top and poked appropriate air holes.
We also fed Jerry croutons. 

 For an extra measure we stuck the box inside a tote. (We shut him up in Natalie's room for the night and I would've felt terrible if Jerry got out and was wondering around in Natalie's room.)
See that big hole near the bottom side of the box. That was Jerry's doing. 

It's a good thing we stuck the box in a tote because later when I went down to check on him, he was sitting on top of the box. Yeah we freaked out a little. 
Nate put another crouton inside the box to get Jerry in there again. 

Well, Jerry only got to spend the night at our house. Mom made sure that he was disposed of and gotten rid of before she got home. 
Our first option was to feed him to the Larsen's snake. (Terrible sounding right?) But alas, he was too small.
So we released him into the wild (a field). I don't know how he's going to survive without his croutons. Maybe we should have tied some to his tail for a meal later. 

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Color

I love color. I love organizing color, seeing color, using color. 
So of course, organize clothes by color order with matching hangers. 
Who wouldn't?

I've seen bookshelves that are organized by color and so I decided to give it a go. 
Pretty awesome right?

Too bad not all my books can fit when organized in this fashion.

 I had to throw the color idea and go with keeping the series together. 
Don't ask how I managed to fit everything in...
Oh that's right, I hid the unimportant books behind. 

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Work On This

Dear Future Husband,
Can you just read this talk and work towards having some of his traits?
I would love that so much.
Don't worry, I'll work on having those traits in myself too.

Much love,
Megan

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Batik

Batik. Have you ever heard of it? It's art. And it's basically amazing and kind of blows my mind away. You must start off knowing exactly what you're picture is going to look like. It has to be all planned out.
Essentially you start off with a white cloth, you put hot wax on the areas that you want to stay white for the ending picture. Then you dip the cloth into a bath dye of the lightest color. After it's dried you put wax on the parts that you want to stay that lightest color. Then you dip again in a darker color and repeat until finally you have dipped the cloth in all the colors and you have wax over almost the whole cloth. After that you hot iron the cloth between sheets of absorbent paper to remove the wax, and done, you have your image. I know it sounds slightly simple but check out these images. I'm thoroughly impressed. 


I think this needs to be added to my art projects to try. I did find a place that offers lessons for a mere $400 for 3 months... but alas the class is located in Southeast Asia. 

Monday, April 4, 2011

Introducing...

Me, a soon to be (in 2 years) radiology technician! Yes this means that I got into Weber's Radiology Program! So remember those 2 interviews I had to go through, one for the program in the Provo area, and the other for Ogden? Well, I had the Provo interview last Monday and lets just say that I did not feel good about it at all. I felt like I was giving the wrong answers, I wasn't saying what they really wanted to me...on and on. But I will say that at least it was a relaxed atmosphere. Which helped a lot. I mean they have a long table with 6 people questioning you on one side, while you sit on the opposite side of the table right in the middle. Talk about hot seat. But they were all joking around, laughing, just really relaxed. Which I loved.
Ogden's interview came on Thursday and I felt 10 times better about that interview. Oh it was perfect. They were asking questions that just set me up beautifully to give answers that I had prepared in order to make me sound worth it. And the people interviewing me were just as friendly, nice and relaxed.
Anyways, Friday a letter came from Weber State saying I had been accepted into the Provo Radiology Program. Which, I just about died because 1) I thought that interview did not go over well, and 2) I really wanted to get into the program in Provo. I'll be doing my clinical hours at the American Fork hospital, which is 5 minutes from my house. Fantastic yes? I can live at home and save money!
I still haven't heard back from Ogden yet, I'm assuming I'll get a letter sometime this week, but I have do say I feel slightly confident that I'll be accepted into the Ogden program also.
Can I just say that I can't believe I'm in the program and in just 2 short years I'll be certified?! Of course it's only in x-rays but then I can specialize and goes who knows where from there.
I'm just flat out excited.

Friday, April 1, 2011

The Screwtape Letters

Have any of you read this book yet? Because if you haven't...you should really get on that. It's completely life changing, eye-opening. And the fact that it's written by C.S. Lewis just adds to it's greatness. A friend of mine posted on her blog about the book and after reading it I knew that I needed to read the book again. (I think I read it for the first time maybe a year ago.) But here's the problem. You cannot read this book fast. Which is what I tried to do the first time I read it, and... it was not the greatest idea. The ideas and intellect behind this book are so deep, that you really can only read one letter a day. (The book is written in letters that are from Screwtape, an advanced devil, to his nephew Wormtail who is a beginner devil.)
But here is my idea for the next time I read it!
I am going to make a huge gospel study out of it. Because this book is loaded with gospel jewels, gleaming and shining, waiting for you to see them and  understand. So my idea is to take each letter and study it out as if I were doing one of my scripture studies. The letters are written in how to best tempt the human, so I would twist that and write up notes on how best to avoid that type of temptation in my life. I don't know if you understand how epic this study is going to be, but if you've read the book...oh, you know.

But as I always do, I will leave you with some quotes from this beloved book. (Mal has some great quotes on her blog so I'll post some different ones for you.)

"If you can once get him to the point of thinking that 'religion is all very well up to a point,' you can feel quite happy about his soul. A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all."

"Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."

"The Enemy wants him, in the end, to be so free from any bias in his own favor that he can rejoice in his own talents as frankly and gratefully as in his neighbor's talents."

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point."