He Melts My Heart

I absolutely adore my three year old nephew Alex. I love how he calls me "Auntie Kim" and runs to give me hugs when he sees me. I can't help but smile when I'm around him... of course I jumped at the chance to spend the day with him on Saturday so his parents could celebrate their anniversary. We had a packed day - watching The Incredibles (twice!), going grocery shopping, making muffins, going to the park to play in the water and on the toys and having a picnic, naps, doing an art project, going to dinner with my family, and going to another park after dinner to have ice cream and play on the toys. I had a blast. Alex seriously melts my heart. I hope that one day I have a little boy just like him!

Twenty Year Band Reunion

Centennial High School has been around for twenty years... and Mr. Hartman has been the band director since the school opened. I can easily say that in my 19 years of school, Mr. Hartman was my most influential teacher. Having spent four years under his direction, I learned an incredible amount about myself as a flautist and developed character traits that make me who I am today. So when I heard that some CHS alumni were organizing a twenty year band reunion, I of course jumped at the chance to participate. I toured the new performing arts center, had a picnic at a park with some other alumni, listened to the alumni band perform, and had a fantastic catered dinner surrounded by people who love Mr. Hartman just as much as I do. It was such an enjoyable event, and I hope that Mr. Hartman knows how much he is loved in our community! Thanks for everything Mr. Hartman!!!

My Blog's On Google!

All right, this made my day. Corinne and I were playing around on the computer tonight, googling old college friends. Well, I decided to see what Google showed when I typed in my name. There are several entries relating to my work at Boise State, some with race results, a couple in relation to MetaGeek, and then there it was - a link to my blog! I was pretty stoked. Not quite sure why, but I thought it was definitely worthy of a post :-)

My Book Quest: FAILED

I just so happened to be out and about tonight just after midnight, so thought I'd see about picking up the new Harry Potter book. I had read that Deseret Book would be open at midnight selling books, so thought I'd drop by there since that's the closest bookstore to my house (plus I figured it was a smaller store & less people would be there). After driving by the dark empty store at 12:07, though, I realized that it I must have misunderstood, so I decided to go home. But wait! The WalMart right by Deseret Book had a full parking lot! Is that normal at midnight on a Friday? I'm not a WalMart shopper, in fact I avoid the store as much as possible, but I decided that WalMart must be selling the books based on the sheer volume of cars. As I walked up to the store, I couldn't help but chuckle at the sights:
* People dressed in Harry Potter garb
* Families flooding out of the store with their small little grocery sacks (it was clear there was only one small item in each sack - a book!)
* Customers literally running out of the store with their book in one hand and a Mountain Dew in the other hand. I am sure they planned on staying up all night reading until they finished!

Okay, that was all kind of funny, but as I walked into the store, I literally laughed out loud. There was a line of hundreds of people waiting to get the book. It was pretty stinkin' hilarious. It is so amazing how much Harry Potter has become such a big part of our culture! Forget the line - I'll just buy it tomorrow at Albertson's checkstand when I go grocery shopping :-)

UPDATE: Just in case you're wondering - I did get the book on Saturday morning (07/21) & had it finished by Sunday :-) For a review, check out our book review blog.

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

I'm a definite Harry Potter fan. I have anxiously awaited the releases of 5th movie and the 7th book, both of which we get to enjoy within a week or two of each other this month. I wasn't one of those faithful fanatics who saw the midnight showing opening day (although I believe Beki was), but I did see the movie opening weekend... and I have to say I'm glad I saw it. I know there have been very different opinions on this movie - from what I've read, people either love it or hate it. For me, this is definitely one of my favorites so far. I thought the special effects were great, and it's amazing how the scenes were exactly as I had pictured in my head. Now I can't wait to get my hands on that 7th and final book this Saturday... I've got a packed Saturday with a band reunion taking up most of the day, so if I don't finish by Sunday night, I may just have to call in sick to work on Monday :-) Just kidding... I think.

Happy Little Reunion

As I mentioned in an earlier post, several of my best friends from college were in town last week... we had such a great time together. We didn't do anything incredibly spectacular, but just spent time enjoying one another's company and catching up on each other's lives. Corinne, Lisa, Emily, and Jess all have kids - it was fun to see the energy they had, and several activities were geared around them (i.e. zoo, water park, etc.) But we also took some time to get away just as friends - we saw Seven Brides for Seven Brothers up at Starlight Mountain Theater in Garden Valley & had a girls night that included homemade oreo shakes :-) It made me miss my days at BYU - I am so grateful for the good & lasting friends I made during my four years there. I look forward to our next little reunion - looks like we're shooting for Washington DC since that's close to Tim, Corinne, and Lisa... I can't wait!

Not All Records Are Good

Boise has had pretty crappy air quality lately. It isn't uncommon to have yellow air quality alerts in Boise in the summertime, but this month has been especially bad. I heard on the news tonight that today was the 6th day in a row of orange air quality, and the ninth day so far this month, exceeding the previous July record of three orange air alerts. And when it hasn't been orange, it's been yellow. Today is July 16th, and there have only been two days this month with good air quality. The sad thing is, it doesn't look like we're likely to get relief soon, especially with continued HOT weather and anticipated evening thunderstorms (which will bring lightning & cause fires). Oh well, I guess I'll do what I can by trying to minimize my driving, etc.

I have to share a comment that is somewhat related: My friend Tim was in town last week visiting from the DC area - he thought it was funny that we had "colored" air quality alerts. He said in DC if you heard there was an "orange alert", it was referring to the likelihood of a terrorist attack! :-) I love Boise, bad air quality and all!

Sleep Deprived & Loving It

Anyone who knows me well knows that I need my sleep. I usually get around 8 hours of sleep a night, and love it when I get more than that. If there were more hours in the day, I would have no problem sleeping 12 hours straight! Over the last 5 days, however, I don't think I've gotten to bed before 1:00am once! I have several of my best friends from college in town - from Virginia, Washington DC, New York, Texas, and Utah... aren't I lucky? It has been such a fun little "reunion", but with only a few days to cram all our catching up into, we have to stay up late talking, right? At least that's what we seem to think. So I've been functioning on less than my normal 8 hours, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I have taken the entire week off work and can't think of a better way to spend my vacation. We have shared tears and laughter and have enjoyed reminiscing about "the good old days" - I have some of the best friends ever!

Firework Fascination

I love fireworks. I think that they are brilliant, and I am amazed at how captivating they can be. Whoever came up with the idea originally was a genius. Tonight I enjoyed a fabulous fireworks display at my aunt and uncle's house. The fountains were beautiful, but I especially liked the ones that filled the night time sky with huge bursts of color - you know what I mean - those "special" fireworks that BJ went to the neighboring town to buy :-) But we weren't the only ones launching those sparkling fireworks high in the sky... as I drove home tonight, the entire sky was filled. It seemed as if all of Boise was out enjoying the celebration of our Independence Day! Unfortunately I have to work in the morning, so I'm headed to bed before the festivities are over. I'll have to remember to schedule a vacation day the day after the 4th next year!