White Puffy Flowers

I was having a bad day yesterday, and Dave showed up at my house with flowers! I can tell you that my boyfriend has an eye for gorgeous flowers! I have no idea what kind they are, but there is a big, gorgeous white puffy flower as the focal point. The arrangement has a nice mix of flowers, berries, interesting greenery and baby's breath. He totally made my day!!! I could get used to this!

Urbanization in Turkey

Did you know that in Turkey there are settlements called "Gechekondu"? They are settlements that were built overnight as people moved from rural Turkey to the cities, such as Istanbul. I learned this because I went to an International Lecture/Potluck with Dave on Saturday. It was fun to meet his cohort and some of his professors. I also was introduced to a drink called "Hot Buttered Rum." It was give to us as a gift by the host and hostess. It seems like it would be very decadent, it pretty much consists of vanilla ice cream, butter and brown sugar all melted together. Then you mix it with rum. Don't worry, we can make the non-alcoholic version with hot water instead of hot rum. It will be our Christmas treat when we have the time to do anything other than school.

This weekend was also filled with lots of choir. I am in two choirs, University Chorus on campus (the non-auditioned choir) and The Heritage Singers, a choir that my friends Danny and Bryson created. They are both BYU grads and have created a choir with former BYU choir members, and other selected members---like me and Logan.

University Chorus had our final concert of the semester yesterday. The U of I has an annual Carol Concert each year in December. Every choir on campus sings a few numbers and we sing Christmas Carols as a large group. The audience gets to sing along. It is a lot of fun.

So, that was my weekend. Doesn't it sound like fun?

Lines for the Bathroom

Thanksgiving was great! I had an all time high of 7 out of 25 at the family turkey shoot out. Dave, not having shot since he was 9 beat me with 14/25. I was very proud of him. He did better than Logan and Caitlin. We ate way too much food, watched Hellboy 1 and 2 with mom and gave Dave a mini-tour of Lincoln. I was excited to eat chicken fried chicken at Lazlo's again, and to dip my fries in honey mustard.


On the way home we stopped for lunch in Cameron. Apparently everyone wanted to stop there, because there was a line of at least 15 women waiting for the restroom. I almost commandeered the men's restroom!

Thanksgiving break is here!

It's Friday, and it's official! Thanksgiving break at the U of I has begun! The undergrads are leaving in droves, my department is sparse, and the stores are selling canned pumpkin en masse! Yippee! I can't wait to make pies and relax!

Mom wants me to make this list...

8 favorite TV shows:

1. Chuck
2. Bones
3. Pushing Daisies
4. The Office
5. House
6. Colbert Report
7. What Not to Wear
8. Law and Order: SVU

8 favorite restaurants:

1. Siam Terrace (Thai food)
2. Chilis
3. Radio Maria (Caribbean Fusion Cafe)
4. Courier Cafe (down-home cafe)
5. El Torro
6. Perkins
7. Macaroni Grill (don't have one here)
8. Fortune Palace

8 things I did yesterday:

1. went to church
2. accompanied a musical number
3. got a new calling: enrichment committee member
4. made dinner: Hungarian Goulasch
5. sat on the couch in my pjs
6. talked to Mom and Dad
7. remembered to move my laundry from Saturday into the dryer
8. started re-reading "The Scarlett Letter"

8 things I look forward to:

1. Sundays
2. meals
3. sleep
4. finishing my PhD
5. eating lots of pie on Thanksgiving
6. road trips
7. the next time I'll be in Europe
8. going to the gym

8 things I love about fall:

1. the leaves changing
2. no more hot and humid days
3. mosquitos dying
4. fall-smelling candles: Salt City's Pumpkin Spice
5. all things pumpkin: pie, cookies, bars, jack-o-lanterns, seeds
6. Thanksgiving break
7. apple donuts from Curtis Orchard (and picking my own apples if I want)
8. corduroy pants

8 things on my wishlist:

1. a ticket to visit Ashley in Utah
2. a maid to clean my house
3. winning the annual family Turkey Shoot Out
4. weight loss
5. more free trips to Europe
6. free reign of my car
7. did I say maid? how about personal assistant?
8. I wish I could play the piano better

8 People I tag: (mom had to explain to me what tagging meant)

1. Mom
2. Marisa
3. Ashley
4. Caitlin
5. Shelby
6. Joanie
7. Genevieve
8. ??

Thanksgiving is on its way!

I've been trying to think of something worthwhile to post for some time now, and still don't have anything. I suppose it's that time in the semester when I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving break with anticipation and dread. Anticipation because it's a full week off of school, dread because I know the second I get back from Thanksgiving we are in the throes of end-of-semester papers, presentations, and exams.

Although Thanksgiving is still a little bit away, it is the topic of most conversations around here. The professors talk about the work we have to get done before Thanksgiving. The bishop talks about making sure everyone has somewhere to go for Thanksgiving. I keep asking Logan if he actually has time off for Thanksgiving.

Here is what I would like to get done over Thanksgiving break:

• write half of my paper for my Weimar Republik class (8 pages)
• transcribe my data for my Conversation Analysis paper
• road trip to Chicago with Dave
• clean my apartment--like deep clean--dusting and everything!
• watch lots of movies in my pajamas
• make pies
• chill with the fam in NE

Do you think all of this is possible? We'll see...

To-Do List

I really like to-do lists! Today I wrote one with about 15 things on it, and I got them all done! That gave me this huge sense of accomplishment, although I'm sure I have way more things I can add to it. Nothing beats scratching out items off a list. OK, I can think of a few things that are better, but you get my point.

Also, have I mentioned how much I love the fall colors this year?