it's not an east coast state, it's not a left coast state

It is official. I now live in Iowa. That's right, Iowa: not Ohio, not Idaho. No, they do not grow potatoes here. But they do grow corn, and lots of it. My mom told me that when my dad was selling Bibles door to door during his college summers he could tell how close it was to the end of the season by how high the corn was. I look forward to experiencing that myself. Not now, though, since summer is basically over.

Here is my little abode. Yes, it is purple. We (and by we I mean me and my mom while we were wandering down a secret path on our way to Anne Hathaway's cottage: the wife of Shakespeare, not the actress) have dubbed it (drum roll pleeeeeeeeease) The Grape Escape. You know, because of the purple. This name has also given rise to the official Grape Escape Day on November 30th. (Mark your calendars.) Presently I have the house all to myself. I thought it would be a little lonely, but so far, so good! Granted, my mom just left this morning, but still.

People say we look alike all the time. Can you tell?

We arrived Saturday around four o'clock after two days of driving. Don't worry, before that we had a day and a half of packing, and before that we were across the Atlantic for 10 days. No big deal. Blessidly we were able to pack everything in boxes, put it in my car, then unpack some things out of the boxes and stuff them around other boxes so that everything would fit. (My car's just a little guy.) Then we shipped 3 boxes (don't judge me and all of my belongings) and we were off!

We spent the whole first day in Iowa unpacking and cleaning. The next day we went to church and did some more unpacking and furniture rearranging. Then Monday we cleaned (almost) all the windows and did more cleaning and unpacking. Did I mention that the house was basically empty for 3 years before I moved in? That always makes things more fun. BUT you know what? All that cleaning and unpacking and rearranging actually WAS fun. You know why? Because I got to do it with my mom. She is seriously one of my most favorite people in the world. She is one of the hardest workers and most creative people that I know. Without her my little house would still be dirty and infested with fruit flies. Also there would still be a hole the the left of the sink in the kitchen, all the outlets would have mismatched covers, and the windows would be blindless and dirty. And I would probably be crying right now wondering what in the world I was even thinking moving to Iowa alone. Moms make everything better. Especially my mom.

I drove her to the little Cedar Rapids airport this morning, one of those airports so small that you only have to get there a half hour in advance, and even when the planes leave 15 minutes late they say they're right on schedule. I was a little bit worried that I wouldn't be able to handle being alone after literally spending the last 2 weeks with my family 24/7, but, like I said, things have been fine so far. I start classes tomorrow evening (I'm only taking 2 this semester, both night classes) and right now I feel perfectly content, though a little sleepy. As I drove away from the airport I cried a little, but it wasn't because I was missing my mom, it was because I was so grateful to have her. She is what all moms should strive to be, and what I wish to some day become.

project #21: necklace adjustment

A few weekends ago my mom went out to St. George with her three sisters for a sister's weekend. While there my mom and her oldest sister Taunya fell in love with this necklace. They decided to buy it together: my mom would get it first, then after six months she would send it out to her sister to keep for six months, etc. However, they both decided that it was a little too short for their tastes, but bought it any way in hopes that I could alter it for them. Well aren't they lucky that they were right!

Here the necklace is unaltered. You can see that the biggest hanging bead hits me right on my collar bone. It doesn't look bad with the line of my shirt, but the moms were looking for something that was less choker-esque.

We measured and decided that we needed to add about 6 inches, or 3 inches on each side. I found some small black beads and larger black and white beads that would compliment those already on the necklace and added them to the back when I restrung it. Ta-da! Done. When I showed my mom she said, "I love 31 Projects!"

story corps & mother's day

So tonight my family and I are getting together for a little early Mother's Day celebration at Barnes & Noble on the Upper West Side of NYC for a reading of the Story Corps book Mom. It's a book full of transcribed interviews with moms all over the US. My mom loves stuff like that (and I do too) so I thought it would be really fun to hear some of them read aloud and then buy the book for her afterward.

The people at Story Corps have animated one of the the stories about a little boy who has Asperger's syndrome interviewing his mom. I first heard this interview on their podcast that I subscribe to (and highly recommend) and it really touched me then, just as the little animation did now. It's only 4 minutes long: sit down and watch it, then maybe give your own mom a call.

I'm lucky enough to be living at home with my parents right now (or maybe not so lucky?) so I see my mom a lot, but I remember being in Utah at school and I would call her at least once a day, often more than that, just to chat or to ask her a quick question or favor. Some days she literally made my whole day. When she would come out to visit we would always have so much fun just the two of us or with my friends and I was never embarrassed to have her around: quite the contrary, I wished she could be there more. People talk about their heroes being people who have made great scientific discoveries or who have written great novels or pushed through important government legislation. Whenever I think of heroes in my own life I always think of my mom first.

hot parents

My parents were in town tonight! The three of us went out to dinner at Guru's (their sweet potato fries are the best!) and Jeremy Warner was our waiter, who, coincidentally, is in the band Hot Parents. Sometimes the universe is just trying to tell you something and all you have to do is figure out what it is. But beware, it doesn't always tell you with the type of enthusiasm my dad has. Sometimes it's more like Jeremy Warner.

a case of the mondays

Today I skipped all my classes. Probably not the best move since I'll be missing these same classes on Friday for my roommate Kirsten's wedding. Oh well. There was something about today that just called for non-conformity. It was beautiful outside and I just couldn't stand sitting in the basement of the JFSB for four hours missing it all. Granted, I spent a good portion of the day indoors anyway finally putting my spring clothes into the closet and drawers and out of the boxes that have been cluttering up my floor for the past couple weeks, but still. My room has windows. I also mailed my mother her (late) Mothers' Day gift, made my wedding gift for Brock and Kate (Cassi shirts. What? They asked for them!), and went to our ward FHE at the park... not exactly sticking it to the man, but it was fun. I met some nice new people in the ward. Maybe we will be friends for the next 2 months. Maybe longer. Who knows?

Tonight I will be going to see the Star Trek movie with Louis and Sydney. Louis was supposed to be in Chile on an internship but he missed his flight today. Ba haha. Poor kid. But I'm glad because it means we get to hang out a little more before he's gone forever. Also I will get to see Sydney who I have not seen since she moved out. And I miss her. Like the sun misses the flower.

moms of the world

Today is Mothers' Day and as such I feel that I would be ungrateful if I did not pay tribute to my mom. Her name is Heidi and she is awesome. Sometimes she comes to visit me and we do awesome things like play four square and see the movie Earth because it is Earth Day and we go to the Hari Krisna Festival of Colors on a date and it is not awkward but awesome and I love her. She listens to me when I have crazy ideas and supports me in the things are important to me. She listens to me when I talk about silly boys and when I cry about stupid things. She laughs at me when I am funny (and sometimes when I am not trying to be funny) and she gives me hugs and makes everything all better, just like moms should. I am lucky to have her as a mom.

As I'm reading this over it sounds really lame, but I guess that just goes to show you that there are somethings for which words are inadequate. Even for an English major.

four square

Four square is the game of the gods. Well, more like the game of the King Pin, the Duke, the Duck, and the Slurm sisters. What an epic battle it was. The most tragic was the inevitable self-slurming. Almost as unfortunate was being King Pinned, Duked, or Ducked. These things have been known to happen with incredible force and complete surprise. Especially to the Duke.

money matters

This last week my family was in New York City for my dad's book relaunching. The company was kind enough to give everyone in the family who was there (in other words, everyone but me) $100 to spend while they were in the city. Here's what everyone got:

Brinden: signed poster of Billy Elliot for his school choreographer & kept the rest to help pay for the graphing calculator he lost

Mom: reusable grocery bags

Garrett: clothes (Billabong, PacSun, etc)

Dad: cufflinks

Carter: nothing

Translation:

Brinden: something for someone else, nothing for him

Mom: something practical

Garrett: clothes

Dad: something expensive just for him

Carter: unimpressed with everything and unwilling to settle for less

brought to you by the letter t

So I like tea. This is a recent development. Since Spain. So I guess not all that recent actually. I discovered my love for manzanilla (aka chamomile tea) my last week in the country while I was touring around with my mom, aunt, and cousin. I was sick—probably from all my late nights and end of the semester stress—and my mom suggested that I order some tea at breakfast to help sooth my throat and let the steam open my breathing passages. She had always suggested this when I would get sick at home and I'd never really gotten into the idea, but for some reason this time I let her talk me into it. Maybe it was because after living in Spain for 3 months I had become a more adventurous eater, maybe it was because I knew that the milk in my usual breakfast of hot chocolate and toast would make my throat worse. Either way I found myself ordering manzanilla along with my toastadas. And it was delicious. And that's what I ordered everywhere we went after that. Even in Prague when it was no longer "Manzanilla, ¿por favor?" and it was "Uh, chamomile tea? (I hope he understood that!)"

Sadly I must say that I believe that chamomile tea is better in Europe. Maybe it is the omnipresent cigarette smoke mixed with the steaming tea that perfects the taste. I think if I tried to test that theory with American tea I might be kicked out of my house.

But my love of tea followed me home and last semester my roommate Chaela went to DI and bought some fantastic tea cups. (The one on the left looks very similar to the one that my madre Pilar set out for me to make hot chocolate in every morning, but the one in the center is really my most favorite.) The saucers do not match the cups—it was a thrift store, after all—but they do blend. And I love it. Someday I want my whole set of dishes to be that way—blending, but not matching. A boy I once dated expressed concern about that plan—"It's always good to have one nice set of matching dishes," he said. Then we broke up.