fun fun

I did all the ones in bold! :)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Have been published
81. Visited the Redwoods
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

All in a day's work-- for a mom!

Well, I have another school-inspired post for you. I just wish everyone in the world could take this class I'm in right now, it really is just mind-boggling. Part of our discussion today consisted of analyzing the work that is done by women, and the value that is assigned to it. By value I mean not only the perceived importance of it, but also its monetary place in our worldwide economy. I'll start by telling you a couple little diddys (spelling, anyone?) our professor shared with us:

1) If a woman decided to go work for another family and did all the housework and raising of the children, and then the mother of that family decided to go and clean and care for the household of the first lady, they would both be considered "productive" in the GDP. However if both those ladies decided to stay home and cook and clean and care for their own respective families, it's the same as if they had done nothing (economically, they produced nothing of value, made no income, etc.).

2) One of our classmates had a baby last week. Her OBGYN, who delivered the baby, was considered "productive" and assigned a value by our GDP. However the new mother, who carried the baby for 9 months, labored to deliver the baby for 26 hours, and brought a new little life into the world, did nothing!

Some pretty crazy thoughts, eh? Makes you consider how we value things in the world, even in America. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's necessary for something to have a monetary value stamped on it for it to actually have value, but unfortunately the world seems to look at it that way doesn't it? That leaves stay-at-home mothers and nurturers in a rough, defensive little spot. What do they do all day, anyway? (sarcasm ;)

Well here's a refreshing conclusion. Recent studies have concluded that the average cost of buying the services of a wife and mother, per year, would be about $109,000. WOW!!! That's some big dollars right there. So although "reproductive" work may not yet be considered "productive," by economic standards, you Mommas out there can sit back and know that your net worth is at least a pretty 6 figures. And that's without even talking about how valuable your work really is :). As for that, I think this just about sums it up:

"In 1935 the First Presidency stated, "The true spirit of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gives to woman the highest place of honor in human life.'"

and

“Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels.”
(The First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)

If you want more on that "mom salary," it's all at: http://mom.salary.com.

And for more fun/interesting reading, there's this: NYT "The Economic Unit Called Supermom"

Thanks Moms :).

Feminism

Well, I'm taking a really fabulous course this fall entitled "The International Political Economy of Women." Definitely my kind of class. I've been twice now, and not only have I been deeply moved (nigh unto tears, though if you know me I suppose that's not such a big deal), but I have been truly impressed with the instruction as well as one of the texts for the class, "Women in Eternity, Women of Zion." If you have ever had any questions about the LDS perspective of the female role, the concept of "patriarchy," the confusing concept of polygamy, or anything related to women's role in the church (or had a daughter with questions, for that matter), I highly recommend this book! I read almost the entire thing in one day, not because it's short, but because it was so absolutely insightful and incredible. Fabulous explanations that are almost all backed by scripture etc. There were just a few insights that I thought I might disagree with, but on the whole I thought it was really incredibly relevant and and enlightened.

I've got to go work on my grundles of homework or I'd keep writing, but you can expect to hear more about this class, I'm sure!

Quote of the day:
Michelle Stott quoting Rebecca West: "I'm not sure what a feminist is, but I am called one every time I venture an opinion that distinguishes me from a doormat."

har har. and yet so true.

p.s. My professor gave a profound section of her first lecture on the varieties of feminism, and how although the LDS faith is certainly at complete odds with some of them (i.e. feminism to the extent that you must totally disconnect yourself from males and embrace only the virtues of femininity etc.), it is in perfect harmony and in fact one of the greatest supporters of true feminism, the kind that seeks after the equal treatment and respect of men and women. I certainly can agree with full confidence that this is the case :).

I like to ride my bicycle... I like to ride my bike!!!

So. I'm not sure if anyone else can relate to this (although my guess is that they can :), but even though Jordan and I love each other a LOT, sometimes it feels like that's about all we have in common!!! And we actually have a lot in common, but there are some big ones that we definitely don't. For example, Jordan likes to spend his leisure time (yes, it is leisure for him) doing extreme sports. And you think "Oh, like he likes to exercise! That's great." No. I mean, it is great, but it's a bit more than that-- we're talking biking the Alpine Loop (3 hours), running marathons, rock climbing, snowshoeing for SIX hours, Hiking in the High Uintahs for a WEEK... you get the picture. These are wonderful hobbies. It's just that sometimes, I don't get it...? To demonstrate the confusion, here's a list of things I like to do for leisure: read books for hours, watch a good movie, go for a walk, paint for hours, go somewhere pretty or interesting and draw, go to a gallery, go to cultural events, see a play or a musical. Yep. Just about as different as they could be. And Jordan, bless him, is probably just as confused about my interests as I am about his! So, we try to compromise, and attempt interest in each other's hobbies. And I feel like we've done a pretty good job so far!

The only major glitch is that because Jord is so intense about his hobbies, and does them soooo extensively.... I would probably pass out or die if I tried to join him. And I could train, but frankly, I'd probably rather study for the GRE the rest of my life than do that. Lol. I'm just not a competitive person! So it's been interesting trying to find outdoorsy things that we can do together. And please don't get me wrong-- I do enjoy the outdoors! But as one of my good friends put it so well, there are two types of outdoors people: 1) The kind who like to be one with nature and enjoy it and 2) The kind that like to compete with nature, to explore and to conquer! This is a pretty good explanation of Jord and I's philosophies. I like camping as much as the next person, just not backpacking for a week in the mountains. Or I'd love to go romp around in the snow and sled and take a nice walk, but probably not snowshoe or hike in it for hours and hours. So. Back to the problem at hand: how to engage in and support Jordan's hobbies without wanting to kill myself? Answer: BIKING. Jordan recently has really gotten back into biking, and I thought, I can do that! At least, I could probably get into biking a liiiiittle more than casually, and meet him in the middle (i.e.: a 2-hour ride instead of 8 or something).

So. As luck would have it, when Jordan got his bike (which he actually was given as a gift from a family friend! Amazing right? It's a beautiful, well-used but very valuable road bike) UPS damaged it in the mail. Because it's carbon fiber, it's possible that the little dings it got compromised it's frame. So we received a large lump of insurance money to cover any potential costs of repair, but fortunately for us there doesn't appear to be any permanent damage! So we used some of that insurance money to buy me a new bike, to ride around with Jordan! We searched for a long time to find the right one and finally settled on a Gary Fisher "Simple City" 8-speed, which is a bit like a blend/hybrid between a road bike and a cruiser. Perfect. I want to be able to keep up with Jord, or at least try, but also have a comfortable bike that I can cruise around town with. And let me just say that I certainly have!!! It happened to be a bit more than we wanted to spend on it, so we decided to count it as a birthday/Christmas present for this year. That's okay though, cuz I probably just would've gone shopping more, and who really needs more clothes when you could have this beauty! Here she is:




The first day Jordan and I went on a beautiful 10-mile ride down the Provo River trail, reaching Utah Lake and then heading home! It was so fun to just get outside and be active together! I really enjoyed it. Since then, I've been to the grocery store (and filled up my basket with eggs, milk, ice cream, and the like-- so fun!), the library, my internship, school, rode around town dropping off fliers for my internship, and went on campus to buy our books! It's really been fun, and we get to enjoy each other and the community so much more than if we were at home watchin a movie! My conclusion: get a bike. It's super great.

hmmm

erm so that didn't work out so well. oh well, have fun reading about half of what i'll be doing ;)

Health Literacy Course

Hey all! Here's the info on the class I'll be teaching for my internship this Fall! I've been slaving away getting the class ready these last few weeks, and I am pretty excited! :)

Katie came to play!!!

So my hubby went on a week-long hike through the High Uintas with his dad and brother... and I thought "That's sad. I don't want to be alone all week..." so then I thought "Katie should come play with me that week!" And so I bamboozled my parents into letting Katie come hang with me! And then they decided they'd all come, so my parents drove out here with my sisters! Leesie went out to Vernal for the week to hang with her cousins, and my parents are here working on our townhouse and hanging with Katie and me! Yesterday we hung in the morning, laid tile at the townhouse, went to Cafe Rio, and watched "Psych." Today Katie and I slept in, I worked out, we ate breakfast, hugn with my parents, went on campus for a tour, checked into some majors Katie might like, dorked around in the bookstore, and went to see Angels & Demons! Fun right? And here's a little bit of fun we had taking pictures:









So glad she's here to keep me company! :)