Thursday, March 26, 2009

DEAR FUTURE BRIDGET,

Yes, you. The one busy with errands, soccer practice, cooking, enrichment, laundry, and science fair projects. The one who mentally complains about doing so much, having no alone time, and feels little appreciation for her efforts. Just reflect and enjoy your current life. Take a moment to realize how good you’ve got it. Because you would never ever want to go back to your life of driving two crazy hours in down town St. Louis traffic to a lifeless cubicle under fluorescent lights. Think about it, you used to only see the sun on the weekends. You obviously need this little reminder to fully appreciate the 6:30AM to 6PM grind you once took part in. The time when your week consisted of drive, work, drive, cook, clean, gym, sleep.

You will be tempted to reminisce about those wonderful Saturdays where, after sleeping in, your biggest decision was “should we go adopt a dog or go for a hike?” But you must stop this, because Sunday to Friday is a long time, and those languid Saturdays were few among the more common ones where you cleaned the apartment and Brad studied his guts out. You will recall other lovely moments too, the ones you spent child-free watching American Idol or discussing fair tax with Brad. The moments where you could spontaneously run out for Mexican food at 10PM or spend two hours wandering around Barnes & Noble. Honestly, I’m glad you remember the good times, but also remember that once you spent a large portion of your life looking forward to NPR’s Fresh Air as the highlight of your day.

Enjoy your busy, undulating, exhausting home life. Think fondly of the past, but more importantly be grateful for the present, because hindsight isn’t 20/20, future sight is.


Love,

2009 Bridget

PS – I wish 2002 Bridget would have written me a letter to remind me that I used to work at the Marriott Center ticket office with 90 year old women and otherwise spent 50 hours weekly studying at the law library. Because instead I choose to remember the weekends spent at a cabin in Park City eating tacos and watching Moulin Rouge with my best friends.



DISCLAIMER: So as not to enrage anyone, this is meant to be humorous. I’m aware this post makes me sounds like a spoiled brat, and I know I actually have a cushy life, but incoherent blogging can not be stopped.

Monday, March 23, 2009

IT WAS ALMOST A GIRL

How can you be so sad about something that was never yours? Brad and I made a huge decision this past weekend and tried to adopt this little friend:


Without going in to too much detail she is a 2 year old Pomeranian, rescued from the pound, house trained, doesn’t chew, doesn’t bark much, has all of her shots, is the most docile/friendly dog ever, and we fell in love with her instantly. So we gave the shelter our first payment and planned to pick her up tomorrow. Even though our lease doesn’t say anything about pets we decided to give our landlord a call just to be courteous. I was convinced he wouldn’t have a problem. I was also wrong. Pretty much he said “no” only because he’s had other renters with pets that ruined his property. Errrrr. So to all you horrible renters out there who leave your space destroyed by your pets: YOU STINK. Thanks for ruining it for the rest of us. I was really looking forward to having a little friend keep me company when Brad spends long hours at school.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

SOMETIMES

happiness is seeing your meal arrive on two plates.


Other times it's seeing it arrive on a half plate.


*** Incentive! We will take you to this local mexican place if you ever come to visit us. The nachos supreme with white sauce is incredible - in that "whole in the wall" kind of way.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

THE MADNESS OF MARCH

Ok. Although HIGHLY unlikely (on the same level as Paula actually waiting to get drunk until after an episode of American Idol), how incomprehensibly amazing would it be if the final four were BYU vs. Utah and Duke vs. NC? Anyone else giddy with the possibilities?

Why these teams, you ask? Well BYU is my alma mater and unless you want me to sing "Rise and shout..." right now that one is self explanatory. As for the second match up… anyone from North Carolina knows you are required to stand clearly on the Blue Devil or Tar Heel side, there is no middle ground. And while living there for 3 years, I don’t remember how or why, I chose Duke. It might have had something to do with my crush on Eric Merritt in fourth grade (he wore a puffy Oilers Starter jacket, yeah I know, HOT), but that’s another story.

So again, highly unlikely. But fun to think about.

Since I had a fever and it required more cowbell I decided to read the history of the tournament on Wikipedia. Here is some fun trivia to brighten your day:

+ There are 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (9.2 quintillion) possibilities for the possible winners in a 64 team NCAA bracket, making the odds of randomly picking a perfect bracket 9.2 quintillion to 1.

+ Four #15 seeds have defeated #2 seeds, but no #1 seed has ever lost in the first round to a #16 seed.

+ The #12 seed has beaten the #5 seed 33% of the time, but the #11 seed has beaten the #6 seed only 31% of the time.

+ The term “March Madness” started in Illinois in reference to state high school tournaments. Since then everyone has swapped litigation in trying to trademark the bejeezes out of it.

+ The biggest margin of victory in a championship game was in 1991 when UNLV beat Duke by 30 points. BUT in 1992 Duke ruined UNLV’s undefeated season by beating them in the semifinals and then won the championship. [I moved to NC in the summer of ‘92]

+ BYU holds the distinction of the most tournament appearances (24) without reaching the final four.

Is your bracket ready? Let the games begin!

PS - If Gonzaga ruins my bracket for the 4th straight year I’m going to send a strongly worded letter to their administration.

Monday, March 16, 2009

RECESSION CHIC

Because Brad and I are a young student family we haven't been affected by the economy as much as others, but I must say this Washington Post op-ed was spot on. This new wave of recession chic-ness was featured on NPR this morning and the entire portion of the show was amusing only in a "it's funny because it's true" kind of way. Why is it suddenly en vogue to save and why haven't we been doing it all along? Kelly Marages points out that it's this trend of cost-cutting among the upper class (when they don't need to) that is currently hurting the less inclined. This is my favorite line from her piece:

"The funny thing is, most of us know this. And the fact that this advice is so common-sensical points out that we're not all in this together. The ship may be going down, sure, but some of us are locked in steerage while others are floating away on the lifeboats. And the fact that those sailing away on the rafts are play-thrashing as if they're drowning, too, adds insult to the recession-inflicted injuries."

Read it here. Thoughts?

Friday, March 13, 2009

FOR “LOST” NERDS ONLY

(image from nymag.com)

While watching Lost last week Brad and I discussed the extreme amount of babies born on the show. Aaron? Clementine? Who can keep them all straight? The answer: New York Magazine. Right now they have a comprehensive guide slideshow of all those many mysterious infants, minus the new one Dessler just gave birth to.

If you need something extra exciting to do this weekend go peruse. I rather enjoyed the refresher, click here.

PS – If you aren’t a Lost nerd, you really should be one.

PPS - You get extra credit AND a gold star if you know who Dessler is.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

WHAT DO YOUR NEIGHBORS DO ON SUNDAY?

Well apparently ours form an impromptu marching band, lead a procession up and down the street, play as loud as they can, and interrupt Brad’s intense study session.


SEE, everyplace has it’s own brand of crazy.


Monday, March 9, 2009

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

In a little town called Lazyville. Wow… just so I have something posted for March here is one of those annoying "25 Things" list I did on Facebook a few weeks ago.

I promise regular bloggin' will resume tomorrow.


1. I was legitimately scared of the dark until I was 15, and I still am a little bit.
2. I am obsessed with the annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
3. I know every word to Regulators by Nate Dogg and Warren G
4. I got into a car accident in the BYU parking lot with Aaron Francisco who now plays for the Arizona Cardinals (he was the guy that James Harrison punched in the 4th quarter of the Superbowl) - supposedly it was my fault even though he came SPEEDING around a blind corner
5. If “blog stalking” were a sport I would be an Olympic gold medalist.
6. I hate paying more than $25 for a pair of shoes but I’d be willing to spend eight times that on a cute coat.
7. I love Bob Newhart
8. I waited until I was almost 17 to get my drivers license because I was too scared.
9. I was once offered pot at a Dave Matthews concert and I am proud to say I declined.
10. I took a hip hop class at my gym in Utah for a year and I thought I got pretty good considering all I have going against me (no training, being white, and totally not flexible)
11. I am essentially blind in my left eye so 3D movies and magic eye pictures are totally lost on me; my right eye is near perfect and overcompensates enough that I can get by without wearing glasses
12. I have an unnatural love for McDonald’s chicken nuggets and their apple pies
13. I secretly really want to go to the Britney Spears concert this summer
14. I watch the movie Family Stone about once a week, which drives Brad crazy
15. I always got As in penmanship; in fourth grade I spent most of the year writing on the chalkboard for my teacher because she said I had better handwriting than her.
16. I collect post cards and old books, most recently 1960s children’s books
17. I figured out there was no Santa Clause when I was 6 but pretended to still believe until I was 8 because I didn’t want to disappoint my parents
18. I have continuously owned a pair of black converse all stars since I was in 6th grade (I wore black socks with them in middle school; but nowadays I prefer white or no socks at all).
19. I initiated the first kiss with Brad, but he said “I love you” first (ten months later)
20. I was a competitive swimmer from age 4 to 17 until I created a pros and cons list for my dad which convinced him to let me quit
21. I have an irrational fear of sharks, even in pools (this wasn’t on the pros/cons list)
22. I have watched the entire series of Felicity at least 10 times; subsequently I have a huge girl-crush on Keri Russell and I still hold a grudge against Jennifer Gardner
23. I only have a handful of close female friends because I find most females hard to get along with
24. I read magazines from the back cover to the front, a habit I unknowingly picked up from my mom
25. I bit my tongue completely off when I was 3 years old and I had to have it sewn back on by an oral surgeon (which is the profession Brad is currently pursuing)