well said, well played

Quote of the week:

Lost Angeles on Stanford becoming our new rival...

"Just to clarify, a school that rushes the field at home when they are favored will never be our rival. You are just nerds we hire to do things for us (most recently to set up my media server in my mountain chateau in Aspen)."

Also, long live the weekender. Well played, USC. Well played.

i couldn't help but fall in love again

Hilary returned to Utah to start her second year at BYU not long after I flew back to Utah as well. A couple days after she got here we were excited to see She & Him at Pioneer Park in Salt Lake City.I love M. Ward. I enjoyed the concert, but I preferred seeing her a couple years ago in L.A. at the Wiltern. After seeing Ben Folds, She & Him, Fun., and Mates of State at outdoor concerts this summer, I decided I prefer smaller indoor venues a lot more. I saw Shake Russell with my mom at the Student Union on UT's campus and loved him, as usual.
Anyway, the next day I drove to L.A., which I will post about mañana.

a texas summer

Bear with me while I try to do updates as quickly as possible.
I was planning all summer to make a brief trip out to Texas, mostly because my cousin Kyle was getting married in Dallas in July. When I tried to book my flight, I realized the week before his wedding was the same week as Girl's Camp in my home stake, and my mom and sister would be away. They would never forgive me if I came home and only saw them for a weekend. So I extended my trip to two weeks. I called my mom to ask if that would be too long of a trip, and she said if I stayed one more week, I would be in town for their annual reunion with their college friends from UT. Long story short, I ended up going to Texas for three weeks.
Due to girl's camp, my mom and Hannah weren't able to come up to Dallas for the wedding until the day of, so I made the trip with Hilary and Trenton the day before, leaving Dad to come up with Mom and Hannah. We were able to make it for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, and stayed the night with Kyle at his and Lindsay's new house. It was so fun to stay up talking and laughing with him. Kyle has always been great at being a big brother figure for me, and I am always grateful for his advice and support in whatever life brings.We chauffeured Kyle around the morning of the wedding, here he is so excited for the day to begin!

The wedding was absolutely gorgeous, and we all had so much fun at the reception! My dad comes from a very large family (he is one of 12 kids!), so it was fun to see everyone that was there. Lindsay's family is from the Czech Republic, and they had a really fun and interesting traditional dance at the beginning of the reception -- much more exciting than a receiving line! I only took a couple pictures, but I guess that tells you how much fun we all had dancing -- literally until about 1:30 in the morning. We all love Lindsay and are so happy to have her in our family, and happy that Kyle found someone so perfect for him.One of my favorite pictures of the night: my dad in the middle of all the girls, dancing to Ke$ha.
I was honored to do a reading from Ephesians at their wedding. :)GORGEOUS couple. They're my favorites.

Anyway, so that was a highlight of the Texas trip. I spent the rest of the time hanging out by the pool, being with my family, trying new recipes with Mom, seeing my favorite people, and going to Chuy's (obviously). My family and I went to the Zilker Hillside Musical, an Austin summer tradition. We cooled down beforehand in Barton Springs and watched "Annie" at the Zilker Park outdoor theatre. Have I mentioned that I love Austin?
My very last night was one of my favorite nights, because my friend Julie Fisher came over for dinner and we played Rock Band with my sisters. Julie is the best, I could not stop laughing during some of the songs. We met in middle school and became best friends through softball. In middle school she pitched and I caught for her. It still makes me smile to think of the cheers and signs we made up together during our many sleepovers. Once we spent the day at the lake on her family's boat and kind of lost track of time so we had to rush back for a game at Balcones. We were both so sunburned and in pain because Julie had to pitch and I had to catch with the shin guards rubbing against my burnt legs -- not comfortable at all. However, my mom was our coach so we didn't dare complain. Sorry, I don't know when this turned into a post about Julie, but she is the best and I love her and really look up to her. Here we are earlier during my trip at our favorite place, CHUY'S.

One of the WB girls and one of my best friends, Laura, drove all the way up from Houston my last week in town so we could have a traditional WB sleepover at Julie's with Lauren that included an obligatory trip to Sonic and talking all night. However, we didn't take any pictures. I say this all the time, but they are the perfect example of true friendship in my life. I love them.
All in all, I had a wonderful time deep in the heart of Texas. Going home always helps me to get re-centered and refocused. I am so lucky to have all of these wonderful people in my life.

anar: the only food item i remember how to say in farsi

I miss college Thursdays. I miss my weekend starting on Thursday, whether you wanted it to or not. Half of your friends didn't have class the next day, and if (like me) you were the unfortunate math or science major who always had Friday classes, you either went to the later class time or stumbled over the guests from the night before sprawled out on couches and air mattresses in your apartment early the next morning. Some may have had to work on Fridays, but that didn't matter if you were like me and worked at a lab with a couple frat boys who loved to give you advice on the boys in your life, analyze each other's text messages (be stingy with your winky texts, those are special), and video chat with one of their Egyptian moms. I went out more on Thursdays than I did on Fridays and Saturdays, but the fact that all of my roommates were Jewish probably plays a part in that as well. We didn't always have to go out, though. I miss just ordering sushi, or cuddling up on the couch with my favorites, eating anar and watching When Harry Met Sally or 500 Days of Summer. That one extra night made the weekend infinitely longer.
So, college was fun.
In a few hours, I will be on a plane watching Gone with the Wind until I touch down in my second favorite city, San Francisco. It's the Weekender, and I'm bringing College Thursdays back into my life, at least for this week.