planning ahead

Today I decided that, like thousands of other people surely will be, me and Aaron should be Katniss and Peeta for Halloween. (or Effie and Cinna. Think I could get Aaron to wear gold eyeliner?) The question now is, which Katniss?!

Reaping Day Katniss?

In the Woods Katniss?

Soon to be on Fire Katniss?

Interview Katniss?

Arena Katniss?

I think I can safely rule out Interview and Soon to be on Fire Katniss since my Halloween costumes have been historically low maintenance. (Bones from "Bones" anyone? 5 years in a row being a witch followed by 3 years of pirate?) Reaping Katniss gives me an excuse to buy a new dress and Arena/In the Woods Katniss could both be thrown together with stuff I already have (minus a bow and arrow and a mockingjay pin). 

What a dilemma. Good thing I have until October to figure it out. 

Did you watch the movie? Aaron and I forked over $8 for a matinee (Can you believe that?! That's the price of a regular nighttime movie in Utah), and I definitely thought it was worth it. I tend to dislike books made into movies (Harry Potter), but I thought they did a great job following the book. 

Things that disappointed me:

Girl on Fire moment- I wanted more wow!

Jason Bourne style filming- headache

I didn't feel the horror of the idea of children being forced to kill children, but maybe I was just too used to the idea from reading the books a bunch of times?

Things that were spot on:

Rue, and what I'm assuming was her father freaking out and throwing things after her death-that was the part that had me near sobbing

Cinna's eyeliner

Caesar Flickerman

Seneca Crane's beard

Everything about Effie

Not CGI'ing tributes' eyes onto beasts at the end-I think it would've looked laughable instead of rightly horrifying

I want to go see it again! I feel like I missed a bunch of things the first time around or I was so annoyed with the jerky camera that I couldn't fully enjoy the movie. Next time I'll be mentally prepared and maybe take an ibuprofen before and then I can truly savor my Hunger Games cinematic experience.
What did you think? 

doppelganger

So my little brother is on a mission in France for our church, and here's a recent experience he emailed home:

"I had a pretty funny experience with some muslim kids this week. I was sitting at a tram stop and a huge group of them came up to us and started messing with us like normal and then one of them stopped and said "oh my gosh you're the guy from narnia! Edmond!" I was an instant celebrity. hahaha I told them that i was indeed edmond from chronicles of narnia and they believed me whole heartedly. I was signing autographs and they wanted pictures with me and everything. They now think that edmond from narnia is from Los angeles* and is a mormon missionary. hahaha. I think i found the secret to making muslim kids stop messing with us. Gotta love it."


But seriously.

Edmund.

Brother.

My youngest sister also looks a lot like Lucy from Narnia. What can I say? These Andrus faces are made for Hollywood.

*My brother is not from Los Angeles. Not sure how that came up?

and learn our souls are all we own

It makes me really happy to know that people can move like this. 

How good is that Ingrid song? I love her. 

(Thanks for the tv suggestions! I think I need to watch Downton Abbey, but I doubt I'll be able to convince Aaron to watch with me because he hates it when people speak in accents (???) )

so over it

Aaron and I tried watching "Glee" yesterday after a three month long hiatus. About 15 minutes in (after they had an MJ sing/dance off in a darkened parking lot with prep school boys in blazers) we looked at each other and were like, this is lame.

I don't think we'll ever watch "Glee" again. Funny it was MJ that did us in, and not the episode that was entirely about underage drinking or the episode about sex with no consequences. Actually, I think it was more the Christmas episode of "Community" that ruined it for me. I just can't take talk of regionals seriously anymore.

Have any other shows we should watch?

bugged

I don't see the point of "liking" a pin on pinterest. If you "like" it so much, why don't you just pin it to your dang board, random stranger? (If you are my friend, this doesn't apply. Maybe we have some inside joke or some shared experience represented by the pin, and in this case it is perfectly appropriate to like it.)

Also, while I'm talking about things that bother me, how about the phrase "'nuff said." Would it kill you to type out "enough?" I hate it sooooo much, I don't even know why.

That's all I had to say. I know, deep thoughts.

the human eye is most sensitive to green light

This weekend was pretty great. It's the recruitment weekend for the chemistry department, and I got to participate in a student panel answering questions about the department, grad school in general, and life in Philly, plus help with a poster session talking to prospective students about my research. I clearly remember what it was like visiting last year, and it's fun to see the students visiting this year. In fact, it was this weekend that sold me on Penn, so it's fun to kind of relive that memory.

After the poster session I met up with Aaron and some of his med school friends. Apparently St. Patrick's Day is a huge deal anywhere people actually drink (i.e. anywhere outside of Utah). I felt kind of dumb for only wearing green socks that no one could see when everyone around me was dressed in tacky green t-shirts and short shorts (and Ugg boots, gross). Living in Philly is a pretty big eye opener for how much of mainstream American culture I just don't get. Oh well, I've got at least 7 years in the city to figure it out.

Hope your holiday weekend's been lovely, too!

more from the graham canyon (have been craving that ice cream for a week now)

I don't really have anything to say so here's an award winning haiku written by Becky and two more Grand Canyon photos.

I'm double stuffed

Cause I ate an Oreo

Stretchy pants today

Sunset at the Grand Canyon is epic (especially in vivid color!)

Aaron came up with the concept for this picture: "The Girl Who Kicked the Hermit's Rest."

(get it, get it? Aaron calls that book series "The Girl Who Did Dangerous Things," which I find pretty amusing. also, ignore my large thighs.)

While we're talking about anything in this post, have you guys heard that there's an official air date for Legend of Korra? April 14th everyone. April 14th. I'm going to have to use all my internet skills to find it online since we are still lacking in cable, which is fine since we just Hulu everything anyway. I wonder if Nickelodeon shows are on Hulu? 

I must investigate. 

three months and one day

That time

I thought I could not
go any closer to grief
without dying

I went closer,
and I did not die.
Surely God
had his hand in this,

as well as friends.
Still, I was bent,
and my laughter,
as the poet said,

was nowhere to be found.
Then said my friend Daniel,
(brave even among lions),
"It's not the weight you carry

but how you carry it -
books, bricks, grief -
it's all in the way
you embrace it, balance it, carry it

when you cannot, and would not,
put it down."
So I went practicing.
Have you noticed?

Have you heard
the laughter
that comes, now and again,
out of my startled mouth?

How I linger
to admire, admire, admire
the things of this world
that are kind, and maybe

also troubled -
roses in the wind,
the sea geese on the steep waves,
a love
to which there is no reply?

by Mary Oliver, stolen from Amanda


I just want to know, do we ever stop counting?

spring breaking it

For our first and last spring break we flew to Utah for a week. We mostly hung out with family and went out to eat (I'm pretty sure every day except Sunday, we are now really fat). We celebrated my birthday by going out to eat at La Jolla Groves (I was not too impressed, sadly), playing in a toy store, having a small party, and laser tagging. Aaron also suggested we babysit Brooklynn for the day, so we took her birthday shopping with us and my mom. She was pretty entertaining at the Disney store (capitalize store or no?) at the mall. So many princess dresses! We also got to go to the temple, which was great since going to the DC one is a full day trip plus a lot of tolls. Aaron also gave a presentation for the BYU pre-med club about interviewing and did an awesome job. 

Aaron and I then took off for St. George to go with his parents to the Grand Canyon. It was beautiful! We did a bunch of hiking and saw some amazing views and I took way too many mediocre pictures. It was wonderful. Also, we met a French couple at the hotel breakfast, and I spoke to them in French for 10 minutes. I made a lot of pretty terrible errors, but it was so fun. 

Cue photo evidence of our adventures:

 My niece Brooklynn on a stuffed reindeer. It doesn't get any cuter than that (unless you use the "posterize" setting on your new birthday gift camera, right?!)

I haven't seen British candy since 2010! Lovely!

 Aaron regaling his audience with gruesome tales of neurosurgeries at my birthday party.

 Eating at Guru's- Brooklyn loves Becky. And her hair.

 I love laser tag so. so. much. There is zero sarcasm in that sentence. Seriously.

 The Graham Canyon! (I begin to abuse the vivid color setting on my camera.)

Vivid color abuse continues! 

 Aaron had a face-off with a moose/elk.

Attempt at the rule of thirds.

Thank you to our families and friends for all of the fun. I can't even say how great it was to be with everyone.

birthday princess!

My birthday was awesome, but I have to admit it's pretty hard to screw up a day filled with all of my favorite people and my favorite things (cake, glitter nails, princess crowns, etc.). 

A huge thank you to everyone who made it great!