Seasonal Song Spectacular! Part Two

I have a few minutes before heading off to work (I may or may not have scheduled a few hours of vacation time to sleep in after going to the midnight release of The Hobbit), so I thought I'd share a crazy song that I've only ever heard on one of my dad's Christmas tapes. It's quite goofy, but I hope you'll all enjoy it and get a chuckle or two:

Thanks for reading...and listening :)

Seasonal Song Spectacular! Part One

So I was sitting at my apartment, waiting for my Swelling Potion to brew on Pottermore (nerd alert!) and wondering what I could go with the next sixty minutes, when it came to me: blogging! And as I've been listening to Christmas music all day, I came up with a wonderful plan: share some excellent songs of the season on my blog.

To kick it off, we begin with this:

I think this is such a beautiful song, and such a beautiful reminder of the true meaning of Christmas.

Thanks for reading...and watching :)

I'm back! And I brought George with me

Hello friends! I'm very glad to be back with all of you in the land of internet. How have you all been? Good? I'm glad.

For my first post back after my incidental hiatus, I thought I'd tell you all what I did today. But first, a little story...

As a Seinfeld fan, I've always considered one of the tragedies of cell phones to be the fact that I could never do this:

I mean, there's nothing stopping me, but this really works best with a landline. For example, I can still answer calls when I'm not home because my cell phone is with me! Maybe it's just the English major in me, but the idea of something not making sense like that sort of eats at me, so I never did it.

I've been complaining about this for several years. Finally, while attending a football game with the family, I brought up the subject to my brother, Bret, a fellow Seinfeld fan. His view was that I should just get over myself and my English major pretentiousness and record the dang message. We discussed how most of the calls I miss come while I'm at work, aka not home. So while the message is slightly inaccurate, it's not wrong.

So I did it. Of course, I had to go about it very carefully. After all, people would be hearing this when I'm "not home". I watched the above video several times, studying the melody and words. I did a few dry runs, singing to myself (and perhaps creeping out my downstairs neighbor). Finally, I took a deep breath, recorded the message...and then sent a text message to my sister that said, "Quick! Call me and listen to my voice mail message. Let me know if I sound like a total idiot".

She called, listened, and approved. Of course, I'm sure it still sounds kind of goofy, and probably a lot of people won't get it, but I think it's fun.

So there it is! I finally did something I've been considering since I got my first cell phone. Yay me!

After a long, long absence, thanks for reading.

A Note, for Anyone who Wondered....

Hey friends,

So...I moved a couple of months ago, and I still have yet to set up my internet. Because I'm lame like that. Well, mostlyI'm awesome, but in this particular thing, I'm kinda lame. I think I lack that nesting instinct that women are supposed to have. I dunno.


Anyways, someday I will get internet set up in my new home, and then I will try to fill you all in on the last couple of months, especially as concerns my extra awesome bachelorette pad! Which I may someday complete decorating...


As always, thanks for reading.

Dear Boysin'

I feel that I may never get tired of writing these fun little posts. Welcome to this week's....




Dear Ampersand,

Today, I make a commitment to use you much more often, on account of your awesomeness & classy ways.

Sincerely,
English Nerd


Dear ZL,

I listed you as my celebrity crush today, but I also listed Robert Downey, Jr (I can't help it; he's Iron Man & Sherlock Holmes!). Anyway, watch your back.

Sincerely,
Little Ol' Me


Dear Ross,

Today I found out you were an engineering student....'nuff said.

Sincerely,
Rachel


Dear Puppy,

You live in Salt Lake with my brother now & I am sad (though I must admit to not missing the fur all over). People can call & text; dogs cannot. Why don't you just grow some opposable thumbs already?!

Sincerely,
Former Dog Semi-Owner


Dear Decades Guy,

I did not foresee a Southern accent coming out of you. Nevertheless, thanks for selling me that rad vintage purse. I will visit again, I'm sure.

Sincerely,
Girl Who Loves Old Stuff


Dear Tiresias,

FYI, one week more. Also, I kinda like your beard.

Sincerely,
Girl with an Interesting New Theory On Beards & Such

Right now...

Here are things I should be doing right now:

~laundry so I can wear clothes
~packing for my move in the near future
~proofreading the employee handbook for a coworker
~working on my quilt so I don't have to keep using the old comforter that really belongs to my mom

Here are the things I am actually doing:

~checking Facebook
~browsing Pinterest
~watching reruns of The Big Bang Theory
~watching the numerous commercials for that new show on TBS and trying to convince myself that I am not attracted to Danny Masterson now that he has better hair and a beard and is not playing a stoner
~continuing my week-long phase of super wanting to be at Disneyland
~blogging about all of the above

Oh, well. Life is still good :) In the meantime, please enjoy some love from my last trip to the Happiest Place on Earth.

Thanks for reading.

Dear Boys Time

I guess if I'm going to keep doing this, I should start numbering them or something, a la this gal. Nonetheless, I give you this week's Dear Boys:

Dear Semi-Seemly (formerly known as Unseemly),

Where are you, my friend? I want to hear about your life!

Sincerely,

An Interested Party

Dear Tiresias,

Aaaaaaaauggggghhh.

Sincerely, 

The Over-Thinker

Dear Tahiti,

I would very much appreciate if you got over yourself and committed to my friend, rather than breaking her heart. She deserves the best.

Sincerely,

Fiercely Protective

Dear Mariachi,

Have you left the area? Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Sincerely, 

Anglo-phile

Dear Mickey,

I miss you and that place you live, the Happiest Place on Earth. Becca and I might come visit you in December, now that we don't have retail blackouts to stop us from taking vacations then.

Sincerely,

Princess Michelle

Duck Rescue!

Attend the tale of the Great Conservice Duck Rescue of 2012! (title borrowed from the video title.)

So, Friday started out as a pretty normal day at work...but turned out to be pretty exciting! There I was, minding my own business and typing away with my headphones on, when I noticed a couple of my coworkers standing by the windows. They seemed to be watching something across the road very intently. I didn't think much of it until I realized that several people across the office were looking out the window, yelling out exclamations every few seconds. I decided to get up and investigate.

I couldn't figure out what was going on at first, so I had to ask my coworker. She replied that there was a mother duck across the street who had started out with 14 ducklings walking down the gutter. Apparently, they were on their way to the creek a ways off when a sewer drain got in their way. One by one, all but one of the ducklings had fallen down the sewer drain! As I watched, the final duckling fell down the drain and I joined in the painful yelling in which the entire department was now taking part.

None of us really knew what to do. Should we call animal control? 911? Someone stated that if the water was going down in the sewer, the ducklings probably has been washed away. This caused several of us to feel very sad.

Suddenly, we saw someone running down the sidewalk and toward the ducks. It was one of our own! This brave young man was going to save the ducks! It was incredible! He laid down in the gutter and stuck his arm in, immediately rescuing the first few ducklings. This led us to believe that the gutter wasn't all that deep, but soon we saw him climb down into the sewer! It was so deep that we could only see him from the shoulders up. More ducklings were saved.

Meanwhile, another guy from work had left and was walking home. He stopped to help, pulling out the remainders of his lunch and tearing bread from his sandwich to lure more of the ducklings to safety. He also assisted in keeping the mother duck and ducklings away from the open sewer (that's what was going on when it appears that he is kicking the duck in the video - he was not injuring the ducks).

Soon enough, Animal Control did appear on the scene, apparently someone had called them after all. The officer loaded the ducks into a kennel of sorts; we believe he safely transported the ducks to their destination. We didn't see because we were called back to work. A few minutes later, the duck rescuer returned to the building, where applause rang out.  And now...enjoy the video, courtesy of my coworker:

At the very end, you can hear our boss telling us it was time to get back to work. I thought it was pretty cool of her to let us watch for a while, though. Hurray for my new workplace!

As always, thanks for reading.

May I ask a small favor?

So, here's the situation, friends: I've been to ward prayer (a Sunday gathering in singles' wards in which we gather to pray and eye prospective eternal companions) a whole three times in the year I've lived in this ward; I enjoyed it well enough in other wards, but I never made a whole lot of friends in this ward so I feel quite awkward. Yesterday, however, I was asked to give the prayer and was therefore obliged to attend.

My current ward has this tradition of passing around a "talent stick" a green, oddly shaped (yet somehow endearing) homemade clay vase thing. It looks like this:

Just for fun, here's what it looks like after I accessorized it under the recommendation of Facebook friends:

The point of my post is this: I have chosen to share my blog as my talent. I have a book "published" of the first year and a half of my blog, so I'm going to take that to share. I'd also like to read a post, and that's where you come in! I'm sure you all have a million and a half things to do, but if anyone out there happens to have a post of mine in mind that they particularly enjoyed, please let me know! It doesn't have to be from the early days; I can certainly print a post out to take. I'm just worried that the post I might pick on my own may not be much of a crowd pleaser, though I will look into my blog stats to see which posts were more popular.

So anyway, thank you so very very much in advance. I appreciate your help.

As always, thanks for reading.

Never tell me the odds! But if you do, could you maybe include a smolder?

Friends (especially the nerdy ones)! The day has finally come to write the post comparing three fabulous characters: Harrison Ford's Han Solo, Nathan Fillion's Malcolm Reynolds, and Disney/Zachary Levi's Flynn Rider/Eugene Fitzherbert. I had intended to do this post in time for unofficial Star Wars day (May the fourth), but I was waylaid.

 Now the point of this post is not to prove that Han Solo any one man is better than the other, but merely to point out the similarities between three awesome heroes.  You may be tempted to say that all movie/TV heroes have similar characteristics. To you I say: I am a nerd and this is my post. Also, I apologize for not including the Venn diagram I originally planned to draw up. You can all draw it in your minds as you read ;)

So let's get started! One of the most obvious comparisons is the fact that all three men are involved in illegal occupations. Mal and Han are smugglers, while Flynn is a thief. Han and Flynn even have bounties out on their heads and are eventually caught, but are able to escape with help from their friends. All of them are the adventurous types, whether it's flying through space, joining up with the rebel army, or helping Rapunzel see the floating lanterns while avoiding palace guards. They even have wild escape plans when necessary; Mal has the Crazy Ivan, Han hides the Millenium Falcon underneath the Imperial ship, and Flynn escapes a near hanging with the help of Maximus and a group of thugs. Mal and Han are both captains of their own ships...and Flynn gets tied to the wheel of a ship by "the Weasley brothers on steroids", as Nikki calls them. A stretch, but there it is. Going a little deeper, Mal and Han both display a disbelief in what Han calls an "ancient religion", the Force in Han's case, and God in Mal's case. Both come to believe a little more throughout the "episodes". Flynn isn't quite the same, but he does come to realize that trying to base himself on a children's book character isn't the best way to live.

Other similarities: their appearances. Behold:

Mal and Han pictures from tumblr.com; Flynn from fanpop.com

Note the vests on Han and Flynn (I regret that I was unable to find a picture of Flynn in his black vest at the end of Tangled; he looks much more like Han there) and the similar style in Mal's dress. They even all have the same belts/holsters! Also, they have similar hair, and I suppose it couldn't hurt to make a slight mention that all three of them happen to be quite handsome (What? It's okay to think cartoon characters are handsome, so long as you don't get carried away and create the inappropriate fan art I came across while looking for these pictures). 

Now, for one of my favorite similarities: their relationships with the leading ladies. The bickering that hides attraction is always amusing, even if they're not fooling anyone. (Not sure if this is necessary, but SPOILER ALERT: ) Han and Flynn both manage to gain the love of princesses before their stories end, and I think we all agree that Mal and Inara may someday be able to put their various differences aside and end up together.

So there it is. I know that Han and Mal have the most in common, but there were enough similarities with Flynn that I felt that he needed to be included. I hope that at the very least you were amused by the fact that I put all this thought into such a post. I think part of it is my English degree rising up and demanding I use my analytical skills. Either way, it's done.

Thanks for reading.

Any Opportunity to Make Up Code Names...

Well, I had so much fun the last time, that I decided to do another Dear Boys post. For your deciphering pleasure...




Dear Unseemly,

I'm quite happy that you've shed so much unseemly-ness over the past several months. I'm glad to call you my friend, and I'm excited for your future events ;)

Sincerely,
Me

Dear Tiresias,

I'm gonna go ahead and assume you're not going to ask me out. Your loss.

Sincerely,
Me

Dear Ralph,

My dear friend Nikki helped me realize last night that there are lessons to be learned from that situation. I will try to apply them in the future.

Sincerely,
Me

Dear Mariachi,

My crush on you is futile, but fun. And that's ok.

Sincerely,
Me

Some 'splainin' to do...

Dear Friends of the Internet World,

Remember how I said that when I got my new laptop I would blog a lot more? Well, I haven't been doing so well on that. I had the best of intentions, but....a lot's been going on.

I got a new job! It's been super awesome, but I am so not used to working forty hours a week. Mostly I come home and I'm just super pooped. (I don't think it helped that I took the 65-ish pound dog for a walk today.) I'm sure that once I get used to the new schedule I'll be back on the blogging horse; just be patient with me, please :)

Also, I'm very sorry if I haven't been answering texts and whatnot very well as of late. I'm going to have to blame my lack of energy again.

Oh, more excitement! I haven't told many people about this, but I'll be moving in the next couple of months. Just across town, but after a year at my parents' house (as dearly as I love them), it'll be nice to be on my own again. The apartment is currently being remodeled, but when it's finished I'll be moving in. I'm very much looking forward to it.

So, anyway, someday when I'm feeling less tired and more poignant, I'll write my farewell to Chuck, my farewell to JCP, and, yes, my comparison of Han Solo, Mal Reynolds, and Flynn Rider.  I promise.

Until then, thanks for reading.

Moving On Up - Part One

As my Facebook friends know, I accepted an offer for a new job yesterday. Many of you may also know that I've been job hunting for a very, very long time. As a result, I've had a bit of trouble convincing myself that it's actually happened.

When you've wanted something for so long and keep getting turned down, you tend to keep yourself from getting your hopes up so the disappointment will be less upsetting. Now that it's actually happening, it just seems so surreal. I have moments where I'm so excited, thinking about finally having Sundays off and not having to work another retail Christmas, and getting to wear heels to work since I won't be on my feet for six-eight hours! These moments come and I get all giggly and it seems so real and my future seems so full of possibilities. 

On the flip side, though, I keep having all these moments where I find myself wondering if it was just a dream. Did I really get that job offer or have I just imagined it? I actually found myself slightly afraid to put in my two weeks' notice at my current job, wondering to myself if I would show up for the first day at my new job to find out that they hadn't actually hired me, forcing me to crawl back and ask for my job back. More likely I'd just have to job search even harder...and deal with the humiliation of having to write things like "extremely convincing dream" for my reason for leaving my last job...

The good news is that I do have a new job, despite my craziness. I have record of the call on my phone :)

A Funny Thing Happened in Sunday School...

An amusing thought came to me at church today. I guess I should start with a little confession: I have a small crush on one of the Sunday School teachers in my ward. Not a big deal; I just think he's cute. And funny. But that's really not the point of this post. That's just a little background for the story.

So today was the cute Sunday School teacher's turn to teach, and I found myself thinking that he looked rather nice today. He was wearing a long sleeved dress shirt, and I think guys look very nice in those. Don't worry, though; I quickly moved on and paid attention to the lesson.

A few minutes into the lesson, however, the teacher began talking about himself as an example of pride, mentioning how he had a moment of perhaps excessive pride that morning after getting dressed. He told us he was wearing his favorite pants and his fancy French-cuffed shirt with cufflinks and everything. Everyone chuckled as he mentioned how great he thought he was looking that day, and it was a good thing that everyone was chuckling because it gave me an opportunity to laugh at myself for checking him out earlier.

I was further amused, however, when a girl in the class later prefaced a comment that there wasn't anything wrong with getting all dressed up and going to church looking hot (she continued to talk about keeping pride under control). It was even better when I mentioned to my friends, after the lesson, that I'd been thinking he looked good before he mentioned it, and they told me they'd been admiring his cufflinks at the same time.

This led me to wonder if perhaps many of the young ladies in the room had been admiring our Sunday School teacher, which led me to wonder further how many of us had secret crushes on said Sunday School teacher. I've observed many times in singles' wards that the majority of the girls like a few of the guys, and the majority of the guys like a few of the girls (generally the few end up with the few, but that's not really the point here). Girls generally tell their close friends who they have a thing for, but as they don't tend to make it well known there's a chance that easily a dozen girls could like the same guy. I think that's funny. I don't know much about guys, but I suppose it could work in a similar way.

Anyway, there's my funny little story. Not much of a point besides me laughing at myself and being amused, but I hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks for reading.

My Favorite Book

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

Can you guess my favorite book? If you haven't, I'll tell you. My favorite book is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I read it every summer, and every time I find something new that I love. This is my copy:

It's a little beat up, to wit: the cover is gone. See the slight glare? That's the new cover I made out of packing tape (I'm quite the MacGyver).

Now look at the inside:

As you can see, I've gone a little English major-y on it. Underlining my favorite lines, making little notes in the margins... I know many of you are thinking of what a sap I am to have such a romantic book as my favorite (and that's definitely a major draw), but I really enjoy the actual writing in addition to the storyline. Her writing is very subtle. She enables you to know the feelings and thoughts of her characters in a way that isn't obvious; a great example of showing and not telling. Austen gives the reader the opportunity to think, involving themselves in the story. She shows characteristics through actions and words, rather than coming out and saying it. For example, anyone reading the book gets a sense of George Wickham's hypocrisy, foreshadowing his part later in the story, without Austen ever having to write those specific words.

Austen is also very witty. I especially love Mr Bennet's dryly sarcastic comments about or towards Mr Collins. They're understated enough that they can go over the head of someone simple-minded like Mr Collins. There are also some great one-liners that I particularly appreciate, such as "Such squeamish youths as cannot bear to be connected with a little absurdity are not worth a regret", "Think only of the past as its remembrance brings you pleasure", and of course that classic line of Mr Darcy's declaration of love: "In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you". How great is that?

Well, now that you've all read my exciting rant, I'll offer the apology that perhaps a few of you are looking for: I know I said that my next post would involve Han Solo et al., but I'm not ready to write it! I need to do more...research (aka a Star Wars marathon on Friday), plus I was watching that lovely six hour, A&E/BBC version of P&P and became inspired to write this post.

Thanks for reading :)

Passive-ness of the Non-Irish

As you must know, yesterday was St. Patrick's day.  St. Patrick's Day is an interesting holiday to me, what with its celebration being largely watered down in many parts of the country. Some of you out there may drink green beer or join a parade, but most of the people I know just go with the wearing of green.  I myself used the day as an excuse to wear my argyle knee socks and green eye shadow.

On this day I was, of course, at work. During a lull in the exciting retail action, I took a look around and noticed how many people were wearing green and it struck me that St. Patrick's Day might be the most passively celebrated holiday. All you have to do is throw on some green and call it good. It only requires a moment of thought, and then you're done for the day. There's absolutely zero activity needed for the rest of the day, and the best part is that you don't even have to go out and buy something new, assuming of course that you already own something in the verdant family. I don't know of any other holiday where slapping on a particular color counts for full participation. Just saying.

Anyway, there's my random rant for the day. Stay tuned for the next post: the ideas are still floating around in my head, but it involves Han Solo, Flynn Rider, Mal Reynolds...and a Venn diagram.

Arrrrrgggh!

No, I am not a pirate. I am just very, very frustrated. As mentioned in my earlier blog post, I am in need of  a new laptop. I filed my taxes last night, so I officially gave myself permission to start seriously shopping. I started by checking top ten lists of laptop brands online. The brand of the laptop my mother received for Christmas came up near the top several times, so I decided that would be a good choice, but I looked through the reviews on an electronics store's website and the reviews were like night and day: either people loved their laptop or it had died on them two months in.

In addition to my confusion over the quality of the brand, I found that was easily confused just by the specifications of the laptops. I've come to realize that I know next to nothing about computers. How am I supposed to know which features are worth paying more money to get? I don't use my laptop for much  (writing, blogging, web surfing [though I've considered getting Photoshop sometime]), but I use it for long amounts of time, so it needs to be good for heavy use.

I think the reason I'm so frustrated is that usually I'm a very informed shopper. Whether it be clothing, food, books, movies... I know exactly what I'm looking for and can tell the quality of my prospective purchase. In the case of electronics, I am like a fish out of water. I am like a fish that got blown out of the water and stuck in front of a high-powered fan, imprisoned in the stocks!

Grrr. Anyway, if anyone has any pearls of wisdom to share, I would be super grateful. Please help me get back into the water!

Dear Boys of Yesteryear

So...I follow this awesome blog written by a girl named Elise. She does this thing called "dear boys" in which she writes notes to boys, with code names so we don't know who they are. She encourages others to take part in the "dear boys"-ing, but I've never done it because I don't know that many boys... Anyway, today was a blast from the past "dear boys" day, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Here goes:

Dear Clueless,

Two-plus years and I don't think you ever realized I liked you. Oh, well. Over and done with, much to my friends' relief. The upside is that you were a really great friend.

 Peacefully moved on,
~Michelle

Dear Dark Ages,

Remember that time when you slowly moved from your side of the couch to mine? That was awkward, as were many other moments. I hope you used better moves to lure in your wife.

Enjoying the 20/20 of hindsight,
~Michelle

Dear Ralph,

You told me I was funny and I liked that. And I sort of miss how we used to sit near each other (but never together) in Sacrament meeting.

Sad I had to leave that ward,
Michelle

Dear Cleveland,

Thank you for never coming back into my workplace (so far). You were creepy and I don't really want to explain why I never called you...

Not your type,
Michelle

A Quick Note...

Hey, friends. I just thought I should throw out a quick explanation as to why I haven't blogged much as of late. The problem is that Chuck, my dear laptop, has been going downhill for a while now and he's making my computer-related life a little rough. It's quite sad, but, let's face it, it's been a long time coming. The poor guy is a double hand-me-down that started life as an inexpensive fill-in when my brother had his nicer laptop out to be fixed.

Chuck and I have made many fond memories together, but the time has come to move on. My plan is to get a new laptop with my tax return this year. I have lots of fun new ideas for my blog, but I can't really do any of them when Chuck here is slower than molasses and likely to freeze at any moment (and yes, I've done virus checks, etc.).

Anyway, just wanted to inform you all, since I know you've all been missing my cyber presence...or whatev.

The Tale of Frankenwatch

Disclaimer: you know you're a nerd when someone says Frankenstein and you think to yourself, What they really meant was Frankenstein's monster. In that same vein, there may be fellow nerds out there who may be tempted to comment that Frankenwatch should really be Frankenstein's Watch, but you would be wrong. A. Frankenstein didn't create this watch, I did. B. This is my blog, and I can take some poetic license if I want.

I was making my way through an average day at work when a customer approached me. She had been given a watch from our establishment as a Christmas gift, and the band was too small. I took possession of the watch and looked it over to see what could be done. I realized that the watch was one of our *ahem* less expensive watch brands, so I knew that the chance of getting extra links from the vendor was slim to none, especially considering that the watch had an expansion (read: stretch) band. Despite this, I decided to call anyway, thinking it would at least show the customer that I was willing to go the extra mile for them.

My suspicions were confirmed, at least partially. The customer service number was set up so poorly that I would only have been able to speak to someone if I knew their name. I managed to get to a general mailbox, which also instructed me to state a name before leaving a message. I left a message with my question, name, and work number in hopes that I would at least find out their policy at some point.

At this point, I was pretty much ready to apologize to the customer and tell her that I was unable to help her. Just before doing so, however, I remembered the watch graveyard. The watch graveyard lies in a drawer, appropriately enough, beneath a layer of watch tools. Contained within are dozens of watch bands and pieces of watch bands. Their appearance in that drawer stretches back into time immemorial, and they lay there for the sole purpose of letting we jewelry ladies practice our watch band skills. It occurred to me that if I were able to find links of the same size, I could help out my customer.

I proposed my plan to the customer, who approved, and got to work. Soon enough, I found a viable donor, er, a section of watch band that might work. It wasn't exactly the same color as the existing band, but it was close enough that it wouldn't be super noticeable, especially since links would be added to the underside of the watch.  I commenced my project, feeling incredibly excited at the prospect of creating a watch hybrid.

The operation proceeded normally: cap popped off, edges pulled back, staples removed. The moment of truth was upon me. Could I successfully connect two different watch bands? Holding the two ends together, I slipped one side together. The staple fit in both sides and the edge lined up. I lifted the final staple and slid it into place. It fit. I almost breathed a sigh of relief, but I then realized something horrible. The foreign watch band was thicker than the original, and the final staple had fit in, but the edges didn't line up. I attempted to finish the operation, hoping that maybe the watch would be able to hold itself together, but such was not the case. Sadly, I turned to the customer to admit my defeat. She was understanding and thanked me for trying. Somewhat anticlimactically, I returned to my tools and put the watch together to its original condition and handed it back to the customer, who suggested that the watch would probably eventually stretch out.

So that's it. Dreams broken. Aspirations crushed. Villagers safe for another day. Oh, wait, that was the original Frankenstein's monster...

The Obligatory New Year Post

I suppose I should chat for a while regarding a reflection of 2011. Last year was...so many things. Stressful, frustrating, gut-wrenchingly hard, but at the same time so much fun and so full of self-discovery. I went through a lot of trials last year, but every single one of them taught me something priceless. After all, no one ever learned anything worthwhile by taking the easy way out, eh?

On the other hand, I had a lot of incredible experiences. Since it's easier to discuss the things I have pictures from, I present to you my two awesome vacations.

I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Nashville in order to attend my little brother's law school graduation. Nashville is beautiful, and Bret was a fantastic tour guide. This magnolia tree is one of the many trees on the Vanderbilt campus, which was so gorgeous. The campus is covered in trees, each of which is labeled so you know what kind it is.

It was so great to see my brother in the place he called home for three years. One of my favorite moments was going onto the roof of his apartment building at night and looking out at the Nashville skyline. Bret pointed out all the buildings he knew. It was so beautiful.

Of course, the highlight of the trip was watching my brother walk across that stage and become an official Vanderbilt Law graduate. He'd probably be annoyed that I'm about to say this, but I cried big fat tears of joy for that kid. I am so proud of him.

I love this picture of him after the graduation.

Highlight number two of the year: the exciting trip to Missouri/Nauvoo/a brief jaunt into Iowa one night to find a Wendy's. My dear friend Nikki and I journeyed to this distant land in order to celebrate the wedding of another good friend of ours, Miss Suzanne. Suzie actually introduced me to Nikki, and demanded, shortly before her return to her homeland, that we become friends. Guess what? We did! Anyway, our trip was super awesome. It was so great to see Suzie after so long, and to meet her somewhat goofy (but totally lovable) fiance. On the way to the wedding day, we visited Liberty Jail and Carthage Jail, and managed to squeeze in roughly half a day's worth of touring the city of Nauvoo. I'd love to go back and fully explore that city, but it was worth missing out on that to be able to attend Suzie and Keenan's sealing in the beautiful Nauvoo temple. It was such a wonderful experience. Here's a few pics from that adventure:

Please excuse my pink face; it was quite the humid day that day.

P.S. Isn't Suzie's dress incredible? Her sister-in-law made it and it was so very very pretty.

So that was my year in a nutshell. Overall, not too shabby for Michelle. I can't wait to see what will happen in 2012.