Don't stop till you get enough

I have some gold shoes. The internet didn't do a good job at finding a picture of these shoes. But these are the ones. I received these as a Christmas gift from my family, picked out by Char, no doubt. And they are just so great. They cannot help but lift the spirits. (I will give you a thousand dollars if you know that movie quote.) Also, they make me feel like Michael Jackson, which is definitely their most superior quality. To be honest, I'm not sure that Michael Jackson ever wore gold shoes. Well, I'm pretty sure he did, but it's not like I have a specific instance in my mind. But something about gilded footwear just feels very MJ to me. The point is, I'm wearing them today and I'm just so extremely pleased with them and the way they make me feel.

Can someone please start a business where they copy all of Anthropologie's one piece swimsuits, and then sell them for $25? One of you, get on that. I will be your biggest customer. Because my price range for swimsuits does NOT range from $148 to $368, which is apparently what Anthropologie thinks is reasonable.

I'm running my quarter marathon tomorrow. I'm a little nervous, I haven't run 6.5 miles since last August. But it will be so fun, I'm really excited. Hopefully I can lose a couple pounds this summer through running, like I did last summer. Right now I weigh 3 or 4 pounds more than I did last summer, and I definitely feel more fluffy, not quite as trim. So I need to get on that.

Speaking of losing weight, have I mentioned that we are having a BBQ every weekend all summer? Because we are. It's a standing thing, every Friday at 7:00, at our house. Everyone brings their own meat (or whatever they want to grill), and a little something to share. It's really fun. At least I think it will be, the kick-off one is tonight. I'll let you know. But I'm anticipating that it will be awesome, so let's just jump the gun and say it is.

Last night at the grocery store I saw this picture on the cover of the National Enquirer. And I really wish I hadn't. Is there a way to un-see things? I wish there were. Because I would un-see that as quickly as possible. Googling it for you folks was pretty traumatizing. I kept clicking away, then went back just long enough to copy the link. YOU'RE WELCOME.

The other day I was listening to NPR, and right as I tuned in I heard them say, " . . . France's president said that . . ." and for some reason in my mind it registered as "Francis President." And I said out loud, to myself, "Francis President?! That is the best name in the whole world!" And then I figured it out. And then I was pretty bummed that Francis President isn't real, because come on. That is incredible.

The other day I went with Linda, my mother in law, to the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU. If you haven't been, you have about 8 hours left to go see it. It leaves tomorrow. And actually, I'm not sure if you can go tomorrow, or if tomorrow is when they're closing and packing it up. But anyway, I hadn't been in a couple of months, and it was so emotional for me. I was a volunteer for the exhibit, but I haven't gone for the last little while because it was just making me feel rushed after work and like I didn't get anything done in the evenings, so I haven't been going. Which isn't that admirable, I realize, but you know. My mom is a volunteer too, and we worked together a few times, which was so much fun. But now she goes during the day, which I cannot. But she can because she has the best full time job in the world, which is called being my mom. Where am I going with this? Oh yes. The point is, I had been doing some yard work, so I was kind of grubby, and I planned to jump in the shower right before we went and just go with wet hair. But then I decided, "No, I want to look nice the last time the paintings see me." So I did my hair, put on makeup, and wore a nice outfit. Linda picked me up in a skirt, and said she had thought the same thing, that she knew she didn't HAVE to dress up, but that she wanted to. Anyway, we went, and seeing those paintings for the first time in a few months, and for the last time in my life, was pretty overwhelming for me. I definitely cried more than one time. That exhibit is one of the most affecting I've ever been to. And actually, I didn't realize this until we were there the other day, but 2 of the most influential and affecting exhibitions of my life were in that same space. The other one was Metaphorically Speaking: Contemporary LDS Art. It was up during my Freshman year, and I loved it so deeply. I can still imagine just about every piece in the exhibit, and do a walk through of the galleries and imagine where each piece is on the wall. Well, not EVERY piece, I'm not that a savant, but all the ones that really mattered to me, which I would say is about 75%. I had always known that Greg Olsen and Liz Lemon Swindle and I just didn't connect. That kind of art was never very moving for me. But I never knew what kind of Mormon art WAS moving for me until that exhibit came to BYU. So it very seriously changed my life. They both did, really. I don't think anyone could have visited the Carl Bloch exhibit and not re-emerge a little bit different.

Well, wow, how did we get there from starting out with gold shoes? I don't know. But that's one of the wonderful things about having my brain. Don't be jealous. Oh, and I'm still not over the wedding. I nearly bought a People magazine special Royal Wedding issue last night. I kept explaining to Chris that when William and Kate's children get married, everyone will be so excited about their wedding again, and it will really benefit our children to have a vintage magazine about the wedding. But then I came to my senses and said to myself, "Erin. Do you really want to pull out a PEOPLE MAGAZINE to show your children? Have a little more sense slash class than that." And then I actually flipped through the magazine and saw that only about half of it was about the wedding, and the rest was their usual nonsense. I told Chris, "Oh gosh, never mind. Like I care about Taylor Swift's new music video! I will not be purchasing this."

I just remembered one more thing I wanted to talk about! Last night we had to go to the grocery store, and I had to go running. My solution was that I would run to the store, call Chris, and then he would come and meet me there. As I was getting ready to go, I was looking at my ipod and thinking how nice it would be to run and listen to music. But I had to take my phone, so Chris could know when to come and where to find me, and I really hate being encumbered by a bunch of stuff, so I was only taking one. And then I had a brilliant idea. I thought, "Too bad my ipod can't just BE my phone. That would be awesome." Yeah, Erin, that really would be amazing if there were such a thing as an ipod that is also your phone. What would they call that, do you think? I am awesome. Then later that night I was using my laptop and looking at the screen and thinking, "You know, I really wish I could just take the screen around with me without the big bulky keyboard and stuff. I could read on it, and watch movies, that would be amazing. It would be like a pad. What would they call that?" Just kidding, that ipad part never happened. But the first part is 100% real.