Sunday Sunday Sunday, Cars Cars Cars

Blake's neighborhood is neat.

I love the wildlife: foxes, deer, turtles, birds galore, squirrels, chipmunks, frogs etc.

And the domestic life: interesting neighbors and Chertoff running with his brigade of security.

Yesterday on our way home from church we saw signs for a car show in the neighborhood, so we decided to drive by to see what it was all about. We were so curious that we ended up parking, getting out of the car, and walking around. There were about 25 cars parked in a grassy field. These weren't just ordinary cars, there were porches, Maserati's, Aston Martins, Lamborghini's, Corvettes, Rolls Royce and every other ridiculously expensive car you could think of. I particularly liked the completely refurbished old-fashioned British racing car. I almost expected to see it pull away with Grace Kelly at the wheel...

Also provided were tables piled with wine, cheese, crackers...oh, and a cooler with Capri Suns. So, Blake and I walked around the cars of the rich and famous, sucking on our fruit punch pouches and enjoying the festivities. It was a great change of events for a Sunday afternoon.

Accessories

Each piece of my jewelry has a specific story. I like to buy jewelry on vacation because it makes for a very cheap souvenir, but also one that doesn't take up a lot of luggage space and isn't kitschy or useless.

There are the earrings (or I guess I should say 'earring'...one is forever lost on BYU campus due to the holes in my aging backpack) from Barcelona with the small flowers pressed between the glass. I bought these in an outdoor market while trying to make my French/English sound like Spanish. I was proud of myself for haggling with the lady to lower the price, but now that I think about it I'm not sure I really had any effect.

I keep telling myself that I'll make the remaining earring into a pendant on a necklace, but here it is, almost two years later, and still the earring rests alone amidst the other paired earrings in the silver leaf dish.

There's the silver bracelet that my dad bought for me while at a conference in New Mexico. It's hand-made by an Indian woman. It's the only bracelet I wear. I wear it almost every single day.

There's the pair of earrings I bought in Paris, Amsterdam, Venice, New York, Seattle, Salt Lake...

There's the pair my aunt and uncle sent me for graduation...

What a pretty way to remember.

Truth

I'm re-reading "A Moveable Feast" by Hemmingway --one of my all-time favorites. He talks about writers block and how to progress in your writing. He says that one needs only to write one true sentence, the truest sentence that one knows, and the rest will follow.

The best writing is truth, and if you can nail down even one sentence of truth then you can feel no shame in what you have written.

Here is my truth, the one thing that I know for sure: I love Blake, and we're getting married, and I'm incredibly happy. The rest will undoubtedly follow.

Gas Prices

As gas prices continue to rise, taking a wrong turn can cost $5.00.

However, as Destiny reminded me, not all problems are solved by riding a bike, even if it is more ecologically friendly.

On the way to a movie on Saturday night, desperately trying to get there on time, and crossing our fingers that we wouldn't take a wrong turn or get stuck in traffic, Destiny told me about her sometimes daily rides into work.

DC roads are not always the easiest. There are lots of one-way streets, and it's just a mess down by the mall.

"I mean, if you take a wrong turn, it's 'who cares about gas prices, I'm peddlin' here!'"

This made me think: how much is a wrong turn worth to me? And, how far am I willing to go to save money on gas? Is it better to save five dollars or my legs?