Zumba

I was late leaving work so instead of attending my normal weight lift class I went to the next class which is Zumba. I have always wanted to try Zumba so I was kind of excited. I got quite the workout but I have to say it wasn't quite what I wanted it to be. In order to be passable at Zumba you need to have a high skill level with latin dancing which I am sorely lacking. So basically I just jumped around for an hour trying to stay in the corner and out of the eye of the instructor. Maybe I will get better with practice or maybe I will just stick to weights and yoga which move much slower and therefore require less coordination.

ode to kate

My sister Kate is pretty much amazing! She came over and together (to be honest mostly her) we unloaded all of my stuff from the Relo Cube in just over an hour. Then she helped me put my bed together so I would have somewhere to sleep. I shudder to think how long it would have taken me to do it by myself.

day 5

We made it to the Weber! So happy to be out of the car!

day 4

Nauvoo to Cheyenne - turns out it is only 12 1/2 hours. We made it in time to see a bit of historic downtown, have a great dinner at Hacienda Gaudelahara, see the new Harry Potter movie, and get a good night's rest.

day 3

Nauvoo - wonderful weather - not too hot - a bit of rain in the evening but it cleared up. We had a wonderful session at the temple, took a wagon ride and a carriage ride, and toured the historic homes. We are both exhausted so we are going to bed since we are getting up at 5 am tomorrow to make it all the way to Cheyenne.

day 2

Across Indiana and Illinois to Nauvoo. Geoff is a very entertaining driving partner. We have decided that I am much better at navigating and organizing and he is much better at driving (he makes up all the time that I lose while driving the speed limit and the only wrong turn we have taken so far has been my fault). We are greatly enjoying the use of the Tippet's GPS. I still have a head cold and a sore throat which is making life a bit less enjoyable.

Here is our favorite sign from today:
AVOID HELL. REPENT. TRUST JESUS.

Very sage advice and somehow more forceful in 2 foot letters.

We arrived at Nauvoo and checked into the Woodruff House. Geoff's favorite part is the really nice front door. He isn't sure about the rest of Nauvoo. My favorite part is that the bathroom is actually larger than the bedroom - where do you find that in a hotel. We went the visitor's center where Geoff promptly ran into a couple he knew from his mission who gave the low down of how utterly unprepared we were to visit Nauvoo as we had not yet reserved tickets for anything or reserved a time for a temple session. We now have a temple session reservation and found out that we don't actually need tickets for the pageant which was the main thing we wanted to do anyhow. We attended a performance of High Hopes and River Boats - a love story performed by missionaries. In the end the right guy got the girl (if it was done rather abruptly and made no sense) - caveat Geoff disagrees and thinks the other guy should have gotten the girl. We then went to find some dinner because Geoff needed something more hearty than yet another sandwich and lo and behold some random guy walked up to Geoff and said - "aren't you from the USU 18th ward?". That's right folks Geoff is pretty much famous. We were able to help this guy (Philip) and his new wife with directions on how to get out of Nauvoo and on to Cincinnati (thanks again to the Tippet's handy dandy GPS). We stepped back to the 1950's to a little cafe for a very strange dinner of fried chicken/catfish, potatoes, and vegetables. Now to get a good night's rest before we explore the rest of Nauvoo tomorrow.

day 1

Virginia - Washington, DC - Maryland - Pennsylvania - West Virginia - Ohio - Indiana.

7 states in one day. Indiana and Washington, DC made it by a hair.

Now for bed and seven hours to Nauvoo tomorrow.

reading and walking is not completely a lost art

This morning on my commute I passed a girl engrossed in a book as she walked down the sidewalk. It was gratifying to see someone else walk down the street reading a book because so many people (mostly complete strangers) make fun of me for doing it. I feel as long as I don't run into anyone or trip and land on my face it is a great use of time.

sunshine = happiness

The sun is shining for the first time in days and there is no rain falling from the sky. It just makes me happy!

Happy First Day of Spring

Today was a great day for many reasons.

#1Elder Jenkin White was born 20 years ago today! And the birthday care package I sent reached him before his birthday! How great is that. So in honor of his birthday I thought I would post one of my favorite pictures of Jenkin taken shortly before he left on his mission. The back story on the picture is this - it was a hot day and we had just gotten back to the trailers after a gorgeous ride down in Moab. Jenkin was sitting on the edge of the trailer with an open bottle of water in his hand. While his attention was elsewhere Thor grabbed the bottle with his teeth and tried to drink so Jenkin decided to help him out a bit. I wasn' t at the best angle to photograph but trust me it was hilarious!

#2 It is the first day of Spring - and it was even sort of warm :)

#3 A fashion icon told me she loved my skirt and tried to buy it from me (really she asked multiple times).

To put that in context - NMWA just opened an exhibition called Mary McFadden: Goddesses and as Director of Member Services I was in charge of planning the opening Member Day for the exhibition. To be honest before this exhibition I had no idea who Mary McFadden was but now I have to say - I love her clothes! She is all about clothes that look absolutely fabulous (like attend a state dinner wearing this dress and diamonds) even after being stuffed in a carry on and flown to Outer Mongolia - just shake it out and put it on. She patented a pleated material that is literally indestructible and flows like "liquid gold" over the body. Clothes that look fabulous without an iron or dry cleaners? I am in love.

Now I am not what you would call fashion-minded; fashionable; or anything really with fashion in it so when it dawned on me that I would be the one standing next to Mary McFadden to introduce her to members in the middle of a gallery filled with her haute couture dresses I was suddenly a bit distraught over what to wear. I settled on the one fabulous skirt that I own. I paid a forture for it but it has been worth every penny (especially after today).

When Mary (after spending the day together I feel that we are totally on a first name basis) was introduced to me the first thing she said was what a fabulous skirt I had. What a great ego boost! Throughout the day she keep saying how great it was and asked if she could buy it from me. Now maybe it would be a better story if I really had sold it to her or better yet just given it to her but really as I said it is the one fabulous skirt I own and it really comes in handy because for the vast majority of the days in my life right now jeans and sweats are just not an option. And I have jewelry that matches perfectly - all purchased on the same trip (it was a very expensive, splurging weekend). So no I am not ready to give it up yet.

I was extremely impressed with Mary McFadden - not only is she an amazing designer she was also wonderful to our members. She was at the museum for hours giving gallery talks, talking to members, signing catalogues, etc and was so pleasant to everyone - I hope in my 7th decade I will be so spry!