The china dilemma

(The stuff you eat on. Not the country.)

A few weeks ago, Ryan and I decided it had been far too long since we'd seen my grandparents, so we planned a little visit. We brought the shuffleboard with us (a tabletop version, which we rocked with all the confidence of two twenty-somethings who love a game that was possibly invented in a senior center, thankyouverymuch), and we played the afternoon away. Turns out my grandpa's a pro--his team always won--and my grandma has a myriad of other lovely talents (her team never won...)

Of course when they got word that we'd be coming for a visit, my grandparents promptly invited us to stay for dinner. Which brings me to the point of this post: Because we were there, they broke out the china. Fancy plates with real silver utensils, no less. You'd have thought we were royalty.

It was so sweet of them. We knew they would have to wash it all by hand, and we knew they wouldn't allow us to help. They weren't trying to show off some kind of wealth or parade some high-class lifestyle. In a simple place setting, they were simply saying, "You are special to us."

And we did feel special. And then a little guilty. Because, you see, we had just returned the china we had purchased when we were newlyweds. The whole set. Because we never used it. Now before I incite some sort of riot, you ought to know that we did purchase another set of dishes, still very nice, but much simpler in design (see above). They remind me of something a potter might throw, and I love them. As in "I couldn't stop thinking about them after I saw them in Macy's and after months of dreaming, Ryan caved and I finally bought them" kind of love. The "I want to eat on them every day, so I do" kind of love.

Just about every day, I still tell Ryan how much I like our new dishes. But after that dinner with my grandparents, I wonder. Maybe we do need china to celebrate special occasions, like anniversaries or birthdays or special guests (like grandparents, or someday grandkids). Or maybe it's enough to eat on something that makes you feel special every day, even if it doesn't have the same effect on your guests.

What are your thoughts on the china dilemma?

Moby Dick rides a spaceship

I've had a few celebrity sightings in my life. There was Pauly Shore in Hawaii. Topanga (of Boy Meets World fame) in Vegas. Hugh Grant and Colin Firth (for whom we canceled class during a study abroad) in London's Hyde Park. But none were quite so memorable as the time I saw Danny Glover ride a viking spaceship.

About a month ago, a huge viking ship came driving down the street and took up residence in the parking lot where I work. There is a film studio just a few miles south of our office, so we figured they were cooking up some crazy Scandinavian pirate movie. Then my coworkers started doing a little research, and we found out it was so much crazier than we thought.

They were filming a sci-fi version of Moby Dick, except Captain Ahab (Danny Glover) is looking for a white dragon instead of a whale. Turns out the warehouse next to us is made up of a couple of huge green screens, making our parking lot the perfect backdrop for a futuristic drama. It was so bizarre--they were filming on the ship, but there were trees in the background (maybe in the future trees grow in the sea?), and it was snowing like crazy, and you could only turn on your car to drive home if it was in between shots.

Not that I was trying to get out. Oh no. I was standing at the window closest to the action, with my face pressed against the glass, trying to get Danny's attention and wishing I had brought my camera. (And considering how dark it was outside, and how well lit our office is, I'm pretty sure the entire cast saw me and my coworkers gawking there.)

So sure, it's low budget, and, yeah, it will probably flop when it comes out. But this movie, I gotta see.

p.s. post your best celebrity sightings in the comments!

Birthday surprises

Ryan turned 26 on Saturday. Everyone knows that the number 13 is unlucky, but few people realize that two times 13 is the luckiest number of all. Something to do with double negatives. Case in point: I met and married Ryan in my 26th year. It doesn't get much luckier than that.

So I wanted to celebrate the day with a few little surprises. First, the party.

After breaking into his email and stealing his phone, I contacted some friends from Ryan's major and told them to meet us at Spark at 8pm on Saturday night. Except then a big byu game was scheduled to 8pm, so I had to change our reservation and reschedule with everyone. Then I realized the game was at 8pm eastern time, so I had to reschedule back to the original time. The game was then postponed by half an hour so... I had to reschedule again. In the end, everyone made it there before we did, and Ryan experienced the very first surprise party thrown in his honor.

Then there was the present.

The day we were married, my mom asked my two sisters-in-law to take notes during the ceremony. It was genius, really. So all these months, I've had two little note cards full of advice and sweet reminders of why we married. I decided to take those words and phrases and turn them into something we could hang on our wall to remind us of that day. And this is what I came up with:

The words fill in to make the silhouette of the Jordan River Temple, where we were married. And now those two little note cards are safely tucked away in the back of this frame. Apparently Ryan never knew anyone was taking notes that day, and he was really happy to see them. Surprise party notwithstanding, reading through those notes was his favorite part of the day.

Resolutions

I read that 30 percent of people wait until the end of January to write their resolutions.

Well, it's the end of March, and I'm just about ready to start making some now. Which is just as well I guess because I also read that only about half of resolution makers are still keeping their resolutions by the end of March--putting me waaay ahead of the curve.

I'm going to start small for now. Just two small goals: write more & bite no more. The first one applies to this blog and the second to my nails. (Cue collective cheers from my parents and ryan.) Here we go.