Since I subscribed to Netflix, my DVD purchasing has substantially decreased. This was part of my secret plan to stop buying garbage. So it's been quite awhile since I've actually wanted to purchase a DVD... but lately I've been pining away for these beauties:
1) Juno

Every other line in this movie was hilariously quotable. Plus, the soundtrack was lovely.

2) Dan in Real Life

"You are a murderer of love!" This movie provided much fodder for inside jokes. The Dane Cook/Juliet Binoche pairing was odd, but I guess it was supposed to be unnatural and not mean-to-be. This was the first time I saw Steve Carrell in a feature-length film and I was surprised that he wasn't annoying and Jim-Carrey-ish.

3) BBC's Planet Earth

I just really really want to see this, and I get irritated with multi-disc rentals on Netflix because I get totally into something and then have to wait days and days to get the next disc. Plus, I think that installments of it might be nice to show in my classroom.

A few days out of town provided a lot of perspective...Interestingly enough, the song that used to be my "Provo Anthem" is now my "Vegas Anthem." I think it's about time to think about leaving Vegas.

If Winter Ends, by Bright Eyes

I dreamt of a fever,
one that would cure me of this cold winter-set heart,
with heat to melt these frozen tears, and burned with reasons
as to carry on.
Into these twisted months I plunge without a light to follow
but I swear that I would follow anything,
just get me out of here.

But I fell for the promise of a life with a purpose,
but I know that that's impossible now.
And so I drink to stay warm,
and to kill selected memories,
cause I just can’t think anymore about that or about her tonight.

and I give myself three days to feel better,
or else I swear I'll drive right off a cliff,
cause if I can’t learn to make myself feel better,
how can I expect anyone else to give a sh**?

and I scream for the sunlight or a car to take me anywhere,
just get me past this dead and eternal snow,
cause I swear that I'm dying, slowly but its happening,
and if the perfect spring is waiting somewhere,
just take me there,
and lie to me and say,
it’s gonna be alright,
Yeah, you worry too much kid,
it's gonna be alright.

I know you all have adorable photos of your adorable families celebrating holidays. Well, I don't have that, but here is how we celebrated Easter.
Love, Heather


Cocoa is all dressed up for Easter!


Mom and Steve toil over a hot stove.


Apparently, Ty is very super excited for Easter dinner.


Aww, aren't we cute? Look at Cocoa smiling!

Spring Break Photos!!!
Exciting, I know!

Steve found this $100 bill in the empty Hofbrauhaus parking lot.


We made this quiche for the St. Patrick's Day breakfast at Natalie's house.


St. Paddy's Day with the girls @ Natalie's house


St. George Temple


with Shannon & Clark in St. George


Valley of Fire

Ah, Spring Break (yes, it's great and mighty magnitude warrants capitalization) has come and gone. Steve and I had some excellent adventures, including trips to Lake Mead, St. George, and Valley of Fire. We also spent more time than was necessary playing Guitar Hero, which came with rave reviews from the second grade boys in my class. We also cleaned a disgusting oven, made an impromptu Easter dinner, and discovered a dead bird under the tires of my boat trailer.

So even though I didn't have a "gone wild" adventure, I still had a productive and relaxing week off from work. If anything, it was a delightful preview for summer vacation.

It's finally here! SPRING BREAK!!!!!!

I can't believe it's March already. Right now- at this VERY moment- my high school reunion is going on. Too bad it costs $80. I'm a little sad, but I can't really justify spending $80 to make small talk with people a.) I still speak regularly with, b.) I keep in touch with via myspace/facebook/blogs, or c.) don't remember at all.

When I make it to the 20 year reunion, hopefully it will go something like this...

So you know how you're supposed to be there 45 minutes early before a flight? Well, I was there 43 minutes early. And that JUST WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH, was it, Delta?

They would not let me on the flight. "Seriously?" Yes, seriously, because I was a whopping ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SECONDS late.

"Surely they must have been joking."
No, Delta does not joke. Not only would they not allow me on the flight, they refused to send my luggage on a later flight, they refused to book me on a later flight, they refused to book me on a flight the next day, and they refused to give me a credit. I wasn't even asking for a refund, just a credit. A credit to be used at a later date, for crying out loud!

What really ticked me off was the way the ticketing people snickered at me when they said I couldn't get on the flight. They were downright guffawing. It was just rude. And when I asked if I could get on the flight without my luggage, sending my luggage on a later flight, they accused me of being a terrorist. I could have been trying to make it home for a funeral, for all they knew. Who's the real terrorist here?



This is practically unheard of on Southwest. I've leisurely rolled up to the gate thirty minutes early. No luggage? No problem! If my luggage didn't make the flight, they'd deliver it later or let me pick it up myself. If I had to reschedule, no worries. My Southwest flights easily translate into credits.

Oh Delta, you and your expensive flights, your oily pleather headrests, snooty flight crews, and HOSTILE ground crew. Why do you have to be like this?

PS:
Apparently I'm not the only one boycotting Delta. A simple google search turned up this gem: www.boycottdelta.org. Delta seems to enjoy performing uninvited credit checks and arbitrarily terror-rating it's customers. Not me, Delta, I've learned my lesson.

PPS:
"Did I make it to my destination?" Why, thank you for asking. I ran through the airport like a crazy person (but not like a terrorist), and I called Southwest Airlines on my cellphone. Not only did they make me first on the standby list on their next flight out, they were incredibly nice and said they would "take care of me." Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, like a member of the mafia. Thank you Ingred, kind customer service employee from Southwest Air. Thank you!!!

I love my job.


This is the flier for the unit I designed for this next science rotation:


I love being a teacher and I am so grateful for those of you who have helped shaped my beliefs and practices:
Amanda, Aunt Dianne, Bethany, Jenni, Pam, Patric, Colleen, Ruth, Kim
and many, many more...

Haircut 2.0: or Diana is Genius, pt. 2



K, so I know that there are more important things in the world besides my haircut. But this is the updated version that Diana did today. I feared that the long layers kinda made me look like Uncle Jesse from Full House. So Diana did her magic again by cutting off the mullet-y bottom. She is awesome.

Thank you to the three of you who participated in the official Spur of the Moment 24 Hour Haircut Election. I went with #1, but kept it a little longer on the bottom and had the bangs a bit shorter. Amanda, I am glad you found a possible winner for yourself.

Here are the results:



PS:
If anyone is looking for a hair stylist, I can wholeheartedly recommend Diana, who will not only wash your hair with delightfully minty products, she is a sparkling conversationalist and a talented stylist.

Heather needs a haircut...
votes are welcome...

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5

Don't Cry For Me, John Krasinksi



Despite my love for The Office, I'm not afraid to say that License to Wed royally sucked. I'm not even all the way through the movie, and I'm thinking about just popping it out of the DVD player and sticking it back in it's little red envelope so it can begin its journey back to the Netflix warehouse.

Pretty much, John (or "Jim" as I prefer to call him) gets into awkward situation after awkward situation, to which he consistently responds by making his trademark "Jim" face... a shrug, raised eyebrows, etc...




At less than an hour into the movie, it is very clear that our friend Jim is about to get trapped into a marriage with a controlling shrew purely because he finds her HOT. Uh oh! Lesson learned.

Also, those mechanical babies were super creepy. We had those in Anatomy class in high school, and they weren't nearly as horrifying. That "mini me" version of Robin Williams was also super creepy. I wanted to call CPS on that kid's parents for allowing him to be in this movie. The ending- don't worry, I won't ruin it- was possibly the tackiest and worst movie ending I've ever seen. And that's bad.

No amount of cameos from the cast of The Office could cure this horrid movie.

One last thing. I think I'm entirely cured of my crush on Jim. Perhaps it was just his shaggy haircut that I've loved all this time. It's interesting to note that Ellen Degeneres also has this same haircut. My hypothesis is that this particular haircut is a magnet for women. After all, Ellen is dating Portia De Rossi.

Oh Jim, if you're reading this: the side part is just not a good look for you. It is unnatural for a man at that age to have the same haircut as a 19-year-old Mormon missionary.

Gotta Love Office Space
and
some unfortunate last names

Samir: No one in this country can ever pronounce my name right. It's not that hard: Samir Na-gheen-an-a-jar. Nagheenanajar.
Michael Bolton: Yeah, well at least your name isn't Michael Bolton.
Samir: You know there's nothing wrong with that name.
Michael Bolton: There was nothing wrong with it... until I was about 12 years old and that no-talent clown became famous and started winning Grammys.
Samir: Hmm... well why don't you just go by Mike instead of Michael?
Michael Bolton: No way. Why should I change? He's the one who sucks.



There really are some unfortunate last names out there. As a teacher and former Mormon missionary, I sympathize with unfortunately surnamed people. What's the most unfortunate name you've encountered?

Wise Words #5

This is from my beloved Paul Rudd's character in the movie 200 Cigarettes.

It's inevitable, you know? You make all these little compromises to smooth things along, and the next thing you know, you're on some macrobiotic diet and you're listening to Joni Mitchell... and you know what they say? They tell you, "you've changed," and "you're not the same person I fell in love with." And then they dump you!

and a special bonus:

PAUL RUDD: Look, I'm just going to go home and kill myself. Do you want to share a cab?
COURTNEY LOVE: So I can pass out and wake up alone on New Year's Day? No way, man.

Wise Words #4
This was submitted by Deanna. This is one of the many reasons I love her so.

Major Life Decisions
(or: If You Hold Hands with Mentally Retarded Children, They'll Never Learn to Make Their Own Decisions)

I have a M.R. (mentally retarded) kid in my class. At the beginning of the year, he would always try to hold my hand whenever we were going anywhere. Then, the special ed teacher told me not to hold the kid's hand anymore because then the kid wasn't thinking about where to go for himself. He was just coasting along without thinking.

Once in awhile I wish I could just coast along with someone else making my decisions for me. Driving is one of those times. Its so much easier to just follow someone else, whether it's a friend driving ahead of me or a friend navigating in the passenger seat. If I had a newfangled GPS, I could totally see myself accidentally driving off a bridge or something (it said "turn left NOW!").



It would also be much easier if someone else could make financial decisions for me. Buying a house has my head spinning; it blows my mind that I could feasibly be a homeowner... to own something so big and expensive and to have THAT much debt... wow. I'm also contemplating what to do about retirement. These two cute reps from some union-approved retirement agency keep coming around our school every couple weeks, and I have to keep turning them away because I don't want to accidentally sign up for something I don't understand just because the salesmen are hot.

I wonder sometimes if marriage appealed to me partly because it would have been sooo easy to allow someone else to make a major life decision once in awhile. But then I remember to have faith in myself and my ability to make intelligent choices. After all, I haven't signed up for a retirement plan... yet.

Heather loves Cocoa.
Seriously. Is anything cuter?

Man, facebook is running slowly right now. Don't they know I need to upload like, infinity number of photos from our super fun post-New Year's travels? That's okay, I'll post some here.

Wise Words #3

"We would have brought you some peanut brittle, except we didn't know if you had any food allergies... because YOU NEVER CALLED ME BACK!"
- Tyree

The moral of this story: Always call people back.