Don't Judge

OK - I know that maybe it's ridiculous, but I kind of am hooked on watching the new "season" of The Mormon Bachelor. I know it's kind of laughable of me, but the idea is so much better than that of the tv show, that I kind of want to see how it all goes.

The idea is this:

Girls apply to go on a date with the Mormon Bachelor.

Then the guy's friends screen the girls and pick 22 of them for first dates.

He goes on 22 first dates (many of them completely blind dates) in 22 days.

He then chooses 8 girls for second dates, and goes on 8 more dates in 8 more days.

Finally, he chooses one girl to keep dating and "meet the parents."

There are no cheesy roses involved - thankfully - and they have someone put together a 3-4 minute video of the date for a little recap each day.

Anyway...call it a guilty pleasure or whatever you will, but I've found myself tuning in each day to see what happened the night before. And, I must say, that the girls have put together some very creative dates. So, view if you will. :)

Some 2011 Adventures

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ok - I know I'm a little late with that greeting, but we all know I'm not the most timely blogger. :)

For the past few weeks I've been compiling a new list of adventures, and I think I've got a pretty good start. Thank you to everyone who made suggestions! Unfortunately I won't be able to tackle all of the suggestions right now, but that's why my adventure lists have the equivalent of rollover minutes. If they don't happen this year, they can always happen next year.

So, here's a little taste of what's on the docket.

Climb Mount Diablo

Visit Filoli Gardens

Visit Villa Montalvo

Visit Hakone Gardens

Read something by Charles Dickens

Learn how to make bread/rolls

Learn how to fly fish

See a Broadway show

Learn how to arrange flowers

Make something that I'd actually wear

Publish a book

Read Shakespeare

Grow something in my garden (preferably tulips, hydrangeas or ranunculus)

Run a half marathon

Participate in the Ragnar Nor-Cal race

Visit the Getty Museum

Visit Hearst Castle

Attend the SF Giants FanFest

Visit the Legion of Honor

Free Museum Day

Concerts in the park

Learn to golf

Go to a festival

What do you think? It's just a start, and I know there's more that I can and will add to my list, but I think it should be pretty fun! Also, I think the spontaneous adventures are fantastic. For example, I didn't expect to go ice skating yesterday, but there I was. A fun little afternoon adventure with friends!

On a side note, I do believe the reason they close the Sacramento outdoor skating rink in mid-January is because it starts to melt. There were definitely some puddles on the ice yesterday. :)

Here's to many great adventures in the coming year!

Some things I love at Christmastime

There are so many good things this time of year! Here are some of my favorites:

1. Everyone's a little nicer. People say hello or thank you or Merry Christmas. It's just NICE. Yes, there are crabby people out there. But since I've done very little shopping this season I haven't had to run into very many of them, so I still can think that most people are happy.

2. We get to hear wonderful Christmas messages from the leaders of our church. I love the Christmas Devotional! It reminds me that all of the wonderfulness of this season is to celebrate the birth of the Savior of the World. And people throughout the whole world come together to remember and celebrate. It's amazing.

3. Christmas cards! I love getting Christmas cards. Anyone's Christmas cards. I open the mail at work, and I love it when the cards come in. I don't even have to know the people. I love the family pictures and the updates. I mean, it's far better when I get to read a card from someone I know, of course. I love that my mom saves all the family cards so that I can read them when I come home. It's just a nice way of staying in touch.

4. Music! I'm one of those cheese-balls who listens to Christmas music as much as I can during the holidays. And, as much fun as much of the music is, I have found myself drawn more to the sacred music the past few years. I love that popular radio stations can and will play songs rejoicing in the birth of our Savior. It's wonderful! I do still love the lighter music as well. This is my current favorite version of the 12 Days of Christmas. (Don't worry - it's not too long, and it's awesome!)

5. Food. Specifically baked goods. There's going to be a major withdrawl/detox period come January 1st. But for now I'm just taking in every bit of it. :)

That's all for now. I'm sure I'll be back with more things that I love about this time of year.

Adventures 2011

I need some help.

I am starting to put together an actual list for 2011 of different adventures I'd like to go on. But I'd like to hear if anyone has any ideas for me.

What do you think?

I also need a new word for adventure. I mean, it still does the trick, but I'm feeling the need for something new. I checked the thesaurus, but nothing jumped out at me. Thoughts?

My Family = Awesomeness

Sometimes I come up with crazy plans for my family.

Most of the time these plans are dismissed and we all move on.

BUT...This Thanksgiving one of my plans stuck.

In one of my hair-brained schemes, I came up with a Thanksgiving family fun run. In fact, I called it the "1st Ever Harlow Family Run Before You're Hungry." I even had some super amazing t-shirts made.

And everyone jumped on board. People actually thought this was a good idea!

And guess what? We had a great time!

We started and ended at my dad's school. He set up a banner for us and even had a starter's pistol and water bottles. So we ran through the neighborhood (some ran farther than others) in our matching shirts and had a great start to the day.

Thanks, family, for being so awesome and having fun with my crazy plans!

Get ready for next year! :)

How Did I Survive?

How did I ever survive winters in places other than California?

I'm currently sitting in my heated office with my coat on - FREEZING!!! Most mornings I fill a cup with hot water, wrap my hands around it until it's cool enough to sip and then drink plain hot water to warm me up.

And we've only hit freezing (literally) temperatures maybe once this year.

How in the world did I live for so many years in places like Utah and The Netherlands?! I know that winter wind blowing right off the North Sea was infinitely colder than the valley fog, so where did all my toughness go?

I may have to get out the "couch sack" tonight. :)

P.S. I am officially against the little oranges that look like they are going to be nice and sweet and turn out to be somewhat sour and full of seeds.

Adventure: Kings Game (with REALLY good seats!)

Once upon a time my boss couldn't use his tickets to a Kings game. Since he is so generous, he offered them to me, and I found three friends (Kristin, Sean, and Ariane) to come with me to the game. It was a dark and stormy night, but our spirits were high as we drove our car straight to the front of the lot with our "H preferred" parking pass. We shook off any chill of the night air by taking a long walk down, down, down the stairs to our seats that were a mere seven rows from the court.

Sitting this close, we realized that these are BIG men who play the game of basketball!

This is the woman assigned to take our orders. Yes, these were the special seats that come with your own menu and serving staff. Though we didn't order anything, it was nice to know that we could. :)

In the end, we got free thunder sticks, cheered loudly, and the Kings won. And we went home happily ever after. The end.

Adventure: Disneyland

Whew! I'm behind in posting, and this has been an adventure-full season. So...Here we go.

The weekend before Halloween, some friends and I decided to take a weekend trip to Disneyland. I think that one word can describe the weekend: whirlwind. But a fun whirlwind. :)

Ariane, Dustin, Chris, Nicole, and I left Sacramento at about 6 pm on Friday, arriving at our hotel at...well - it was late. But don't you worry! We were buying our tickets by 7:45 am Saturday morning so that we could go in right when the park opened. This was a very smart move, because we got on several popular rides before the crowds really got started.

Long story short: We spent 16 hours at Disneyland & CA Adventure and did 30 rides/attractions. I have never spent that many hours at a theme park in one day. It was exhausting, but incredibly fun. My only regret is that we didn't get to go on Peter Pan. Otherwise it was a great trip. Thanks friends!

Since we used our fast passes so efficiently, we really only waited in one long line, and that was for Toy Story. But it's such a fun ride that it was worth it. Here are Chris, Nicole, Ariane, and Dustin in front of the talking (and joking) Mr. Potato Head.

Dustin and Nicole are ready for the Toy Story challenge. Dustin had the high score on this ride thanks to his cross-fit training, but I came in 2nd.

Here's the group at the end of the day. Do any of us have that crazy I've-been-at-a-theme-park-for-more-hours-than-I've-slept-in-the-past-two-nights look? 'Cause we should. :)

Hooray for Disneyland!

Random Wednesday Thoughts

1. I ate a fortune cookie the other day and the fortune said, "Much success will find you in the coming year." Then I ate another one and the fortune said something like, "Take control of your subconscious before someone else does." What does that even mean?! I'm going with the first one for sure.

2. Fresh, warm zucchini bread is wonderful. It just came out of the oven and I'm eating while I type. I think I could eat the whole pan. It's like eating vegetables, right?

3. I love the sound of tearing perforated paper. Like the checks at my job. I don't know why. I told you these were random thoughts.

4. I also love listening to my ipod on shuffle. This is because: a. I hear songs I forgot I had; b. I am reminded that I have great, eclectic taste in music; and c. the juxtaposition of songs in fantastic! I love that I can hear Miles Davis, Sons of Provo, Frank Sinatra, Yellow Card, Barbara Streisand, and Rascal Flatts all in the same afternoon. Currently: Bing Crosby singing "Silent Night." Also, this way it's ok to listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. The excuse: "What?! My ipod was on 'shuffle.' It just came up." Brilliant.

5. Speaking of brilliant, my new favorite TV show is just that. Anyone ever watch Top Gear on BBC America? You should. My brother made me watch it a couple of weeks ago and I was not excited, because I thought it would be a lame car show. NOT LAME!!! So funny I was crying. I now have 11 episodes on my dvr and I've converted Ariane.

6. I am so excited for my family to be here next week that I'm about ready to burst!

7. Next Thursday morning will the "1st Ever Harlow Family Run Before You're Hungry." Intrigued? Check back next week for pictures and results. Should be a blast!

Ok - I have a zillion more thoughts, but you'll have to tune in next time to find out what they might be. :)

Last item: Anyone know what the picture below is? I mean - besides a sign that says, "Nando's?" 50 points to the person can guess the significance.

By Popular Demand

Because two people requested pictures of the gourds, here you go. :) They're nothing fancy, but we had fun. It's more like we stained them. Some people paint designs, make them into snowmen, etc. We just made them look fall-like. Clearly I do not have the skills to make them look great in photos, and if I had some fall leaves it would be better, but you at least get the idea. Enjoy! And...if anyone wants to paint gourds next year, I'm in!

*Yes, these were the same three gourds in this whole series of pictures. :)