I'm a Nerd

Who knew, right? Because I'm typically so suave that you'd never even think of describing as nerdy, right?

Vance and Abby gave me five Marvel comic books for my birthday. And I'm totally excited about it.

Behold:

Sense & Sensibility!!!

You can keep Mr. Darcy; my heart bleeds for Col. Brandon...

wuh-oh...

My friends, I totally did a post, kind of about my birthday, on Tuesday. And then it mysteriously disappeared, folks! This was very disappointing and irritating and frustrating to me!

I have to take credit for its disappearance, too. I was messing around on my iPod touch (blogpress?); there was an extra, unpublished post on there that I wanted to delete.

Turns out, it was my published post that I deleted. Dang it!

So. Here goes. A whole other post, similar but different to Tuesday's post...

I kind of love birthdays. But I didn't love turning 29, for some reason. I've been kind of bummed about it, fighting feelings of animosity over my youth slipping away. I've only got 359 days left of my 20s, and that bothers me.

Like I said, I'm fighting the animosity. I'll make the most of the remainder of my 20s. I will!

Happy thoughts surrounding my birthday weekend:

*Lisa brought me a Slurpee from my hometown (because 7-Eleven doesn't exist in SE Idaho!) on Friday night. How awesome is she?!
*The Rapture didn't happen! Okay, so I didn't really put any stock in it actually happening, except that they professed it was going to happen the day before my birthday, which was kind of annoying. Anyway, it didn't happen, so congratulations to all of us, right?!
*I have fantastic friends who gathered at a tasty restaurant on Saturday evening to help me celebrate. I adore my friends...
*Vance wished me a "Happy #24" which was the most fantastic thing I heard on my birthday. (So it's not true; so what?)
*Jami made me a fantastic cake! It was lovely and delicious. (Thanks again, Jami!)
*Uncle Shawn reminded me that 29 is "just a number," which I kind of needed to hear.

The Cake
(It's homemade chocolate cake
with homemade butter-cream icing
surrounded by Pepperidge Farm pirouettes
and topped with toffee bits and only 24 candles)

Candles aflame...

I've got more to blog about, but will save that for another day. For now, I'll wish y'all a happy and safe Memorial Day! Go out and do something fun! I myself will spend my long weekend chillaxin' with the family, seeing Les Mis in SLC, and eating homemade goodness.

Passenger

Well, folks, I've gone and developed a musical crush. They're called Passenger, and almost nobody has heard of them, which breaks my little heart right down the middle.

I hadn't really heard of them until my friend (Wade, The) told me about them a while back. I bought one of their albums, Flight of the Crow, as soon as I heard it. Because they are AMAZING.

Yes, Flight of the Crow is a spectacular album from start to finish. They've got a bit of an Indie/Folksy sound to them, and...and I love them. I LOVE THEM, AND I DON'T CARE WHO KNOWS IT!

I was sniffing around on Pandora, and started "Passenger Radio" where I learned they had another album called Wicked Man's Rest, so I looked on Amazon and totally snatched that CD up as soon as I found it.

I was smitten with their sound. And their lyrics.

After a few months, I thought I'd look around Google to see what I could see about this band who was slowly starting to take over my life. Do you know what I found? Not much.

Turns out there's another band out there called Passenger, but they sound like Satan. I was coming up with almost nothing, so I thought I'd make things easier on myself and I texted Wade, The. I totally made the right decision in getting in touch with Wade, 'cause he told me they actually have a total 4 albums out (including Divers & Submarines, and Eyes Wide Blind Love). I was quite certain I needed the other two albums, and quickly discovered the only place to purchase them was on iTunes. I made my purchases with a big dumb grin on my face.

Go ahead and push "play"

The one called "Walk You Home" is in reality called "Night Vision Binoculars." I suggest you really listen to the lyrics. It's quite funny...

Anyway, I want to say that Passenger is from somewhere in the UK...? What I know for sure is that they were in New Zealand a few weeks ago. I also know that Wade has messaged them, asking them to make their way to the good old USA...but they said they don't have enough fans over here.

What the what?! I've been thinking about it, and it's got to be simply because most people don't know about them. Which is a crying shame, really...

So. This is me. Sharing the love. Go ahead and give them a little listen; you will not be sorry.

Real quick: I'm not about to lie. Music videos aren't exactly Passenger's forte...but who really cares about music videos anyway? Am I right?

This is their song "Flight of the Crow"
which might be my favorite of all their songs...

A Banshee and Goslings...

Once again, life has gotten away with me; last week got to be very busy. Very busy, indeed.

I'm not complaining. Busy is great! Time flies, and I sleep better at night when I stay so dang busy.

Then Saturday came.

Things didn't necessarily get any less busy, but Saturday was a GOOD day! I got up at the crack of dawn to throw some food in the crock pot. Then I went to the park to help out with the Willie Free 5k run (and laughed my guts right out with Janae). Then I skidaddled on over to the farmers market with Lisa and Brookie (where we met up with Brooker and Ryan). THEN...Ryan talked me in to taking a ride on the banshee with him. Then Goose and family showed up to chillax!

Do any of y'all know what a banshee is? It's a 4-wheeler. A Really. Dang. Fast. 4-wheeler. Ryan's told me all about the banshee, and he's been trying to talk me into going for a ride on it sometime. Aaaand this past Saturday I totally caved.

WOW. When he said, "It's the fastest 4-wheeler out there," somehow I still wasn't prepared for our little ride. Not. At. All.

I sat behind Ryan (there's no way I was going to drive!), and held onto his shirt. Kind of like reigns. (Silly Gina!) Ryan said, "I don't think that's going to work; you're going to want to hold on tight." So I wrapped my arms around him tightly indeed (sly dog!), and he took off like a bat out of hell--at which point I tightened my grip.

Like I said, I was not prepared for the banshee. We rode all over the place back in the foothills, and it was dang fun, but it was also scary. DANG! SCARY!

We rode for about 45 minutes or so. I silent-screamed like a coward almost the entire time. When we went uphill, we went fast. Ryan guesses we got up to about 60mph. (60mph seems a lot faster when you're on the banshee, with wind whipping 'round you.) Going uphill was a bit terrifying, especially when it was an particularly steep incline.

But you know what? Going downhill was equally scary unto me. Especially when it was an particularly steep decline.

Silent screams all over the place!

When we were wrapping up and heading back to Ryan's house, he asked me if I wanted to do a jump. I asked him, "I don't know, do I?" He totally invited me to say no, but I was much too proud (with a private death wish?), so my mouth told him yes, while my subconscious screamed silently, wondering if I had just summoned the tragic fate of an early death.

Ryan did what he could to prep me, and long story short: it was all smooth sailing until that last hill, at which point I feel quite certain I experienced whiplash.

Anyway. I made it back in one piece.

Ryan didn't kill me.

I had FUN!

Aaaand I feel like I cheated death. (Thanks, Ryan! For real!)

Pretend that I look cool and sassy
instead of scared and sweaty...

After tempting fate (and winning!), I came home just in time to put the finishing touches on lunch before Goose & Co (Janel, Marshall and Kaylee) showed up.

They mostly came up to go to a reception in Rexburg for a friend of Janel's. Awesome as they are, they decided to head up early and make a day of it with their Ginabean (that's me!). We ate a scrumptious lunch (Greek pita sandwiches--homemade), saw Rio (I may or may not have fallen asleep), and visited while we chased Marshall around and cuddled with Kaylee.

It was magnificent! Oh, how I love my family!

Mr. Marshall

Kayleebug

Eventually, Goose, Janel and Marshall went to the reception while I stayed at home and babysat my sweet little Kaylee. She is such a precious, happy child! She's got this killer smile that's so darn big it almost looks like it might hurt. So precious! -I tried to snap a picture of said smile, but I always failed to capture it...so I stole one from Janel's blog. Behold:

Goodness sakes alive, I want to gobble her up!

Love you, Goose & Janel & Marshall & Kaylee! Thanks for coming up to visit, and for sharing your babies with me!

So yeah...Saturday was a good day. (I'm not going to tell you that my entire body ached on Sunday and that I felt like my neck couldn't support my head all during church because of the banshee ride. Shhhhh! Not gonna do it...)

YUM!

I've had a handful of requests for the recipe of the chocolate cinnamon cookies that I mentioned in my last post. I'm happy to oblige, of course. (It's my favorite cookie because it combines two most delicious ingredients: cinnamon & chocolate. Yummmmm!)

Behold:

Chewy Chocolate Cinnamon Cookies

Ingredients

6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1 Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray or line with parchment paper.

2 Beat butter until creamy. Add brown sugar and 3 tablespoons granulated sugar; beat until blended. Add egg, baking soda, corn syrup and vanilla; beat well.

3 Stir together flour and cocoa; beat into butter mixture. If batter becomes too stiff, use wooden spoon to stir in remaining flour. Cover; refrigerate about 30 minutes, if necessary, until batter is firm enough to shape. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar and cinnamon; roll balls in mixture. Place balls 2-inches apart on prepared cookie sheet.

4 Bake 9 to 10 minutes or until cookies are set and tops are cracked. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack or slide parchment paper and cookies to wire rack. Cool completely; peel cookies from paper. 40 cookies.

I always double the recipe. ALWAYS.

I got this amazing recipe from my dear friend, Jamie G. She got it from Hershey's.

You're welcome.

I Really Should Drink More Water...

Holy crap, it's been a long workweek. Which is interesting, because work has been slow. What is it with all these cancellations and no-shows? I mean, really!

I did have an interesting something happen at work this week...but I think publishing it on my blog might breech HIPAA. Which is too bad, 'cause it's a funny story. (Well it is now; it sure wasn't while it was happening...)

In other news, I gave blood today; it's something I do pretty much every 8 weeks (as long as my blood has enough iron, of course; going in to donate blood and then being cast away because one's blood is "iron-poor" is a slap in the face! Why don't you just go ahead and call me anemic or something! Sheesh...) Anyway; today my iron count was perfect (I win!). While I was in the process of donating, the guy next to me very nearly passed out, for real. He got sweaty and light-headed, and he was getting all sorts of attention from the American Red Cross staff. (Poor guy; he was so embarrassed. Apparently a granola bar doesn't qualify as "breakfast" in the "man-world.") I told him to milk the situation as much as he could, in an endearing sort of way. I think he loved me before I left.

After giving the gift of life, I ran some errands (including, but not limited to, paying the sponsorship fee for coed softball--can't wait!). It was about an hour later that I started feeling light-headed and woozy. So I made my way home and took a two-hour nap. (Hmm...usually, giving blood doesn't take it out of me like that. Curious...)

I did make some amazing chocolate cinnamon cookies the other day...

These bad boys are my favorite cookie.
And as Brooke said, "That's really saying something!"
(Thanks for the recipe, Jamie G!)

Oh geez, this post is boring.

This is me being frustrated

You wouldn't think it was boring if I told you what happened at work this past week...

Aloha!!!

Yesterday, Brookie and I went over to Brandi's place to steal her Hawaii pictures. (Brandi's the one who put the trip together, and she had everybody's pictures.)

Dang. We've been back from HI for nearly 5 months (crazy!), and it's been a lot of fun to look through everyone's pictures (somewhere around 2,100 of them) and reminisce!

Here are some of my favorites:

View of Lai'e from the temple...

Here I am running and splashing in the surf...
(So childish. I blame Hawaii.)

Here's the frog Cameron found
that made its appearance in my shower...

Me and Keri at Pearl Harbor,
on the boat ride out to the USS Arizona memorial...

The crew at Hanauma Bay:
Keri, Brooke, Jeff, Brandi, Nate, Gina, Cameron

On my way up to Diamond Head...

I called this the Bagel of Love...

Luau-ing it at the PCC

Everyone in their snorkel gear.
(Too bad you can't see our faces clearly,
because we all look fantastic!)

Scandal!
(We're not as naked as we appear!)

This is me pointing out the men's restroom at Pearl Harbor.

I very nearly embarrassed myself by following Cameron in there. For reals. We were just chatting merrily, Cameron and I, when I realized where we were heading; I stopped me before I got in very far. The entire crew still hasn't let me live it down...It makes me want to die of shame, except that it's kind of hilarious...(It would have been much less funny if I'd have seen any urinals!)

Aaaand here we have Brandi
and her incredibly hairy leg...
(For real, the leg belongs to Nate)

Ah! I want to go back to Hawaii!