I think It's time.

Over the last few years I've been tracking my goal setting on a pretty cool website called www.43things.com.

Some of my goals I've accomplished quickly, some of taken a long time, and some are decidedly a few years away from completion, but I fully intend to do everything I listed.

Today I stumbled on this video and was reminded of my life goal #2 : backflip off a ski jump.  I've always considered it a far-off goal, a someday, maybe, possibly.  But after seeing this video, it suddenly feels like something I could actually accomplish. Maybe even before the end of the year.


I know I can:
-ski competently and confidently (basic grinds and small jumps)
-land a ski jump with a few feet of air
-backflip off a trampoline/diving board
and now I just need to put those skills together.

Maybe I’m underestimating the skill and finesse it really takes, but it doesn’t seem that hard when I see videos like this:



Notice how:
-he doesn’t go down the slope extremely fast
-he doesn’t have to tuck very tightly
-he picks a nice powdery slope for the trick, which minimizes risk of injury
-his poles are flopping all over the place. This, along with the goofy and congratulatory cheers by the videographer, make me think that we’re witnessing one of his early backflip attempts. He’s not a seasoned pro, but a good skier whose skill level may be within my reach.


Although I'm always sad to see summer end, this video is giving me reason to look forward to winter!

See more progress on: Backflip off of a ski jump

Li'l Brudder and Rebellious Everyone

Having my little brother, Michael, come spend 10 days with us a few weeks ago was an excellent excuse to rewatch this HomeStar Runner Classic and make fun of my long-suffering sibling.
 
Fortunately, Michale doesn't have much in common with this pathetic one-legged pup other than being generally adorable, and having the delightfully unlikely goal of becoming a star quarterback.

(Okay okay. Michael has a much better chance of being a star quarterback than L'il Brudder, but he was probably wise to ditch the football team when he did and go out for lacrosse. He's having a lot more success and playtime in lacrosse than he did as the 5 foot 8 inch, 130 lb QB. Because as good as he was on the field, no amount of skill and speed will mitigate the force of a tackle from a 250 lb defensive lineman.)

Michael (right), wipes away tears of frustration after another pass went right over his head

And whatever his similarities to Li'l Brudder, one thing is undeniable: he's got the "heart of a champion," and I loved having him come visit. We had tons of fun hiking, shopping, playing, cooking and mostly just talking and joking about silly stuff while he was here. This was really the first time since I moved out in 2006 that I've been able to hangout with him for an extended visit. It was cool to see how much he's grown up in the past five years, and how much, in some ways, he's stayed the same.

I was amazed by how adult my 17-year-old brother had become, and how his maturity really shined in the absence of my parents. I easily imagined him renting his own apartment, studying for his college exams, gong to job interviews, etc. My L'il Brudder! Doing grown up things!

He even said something to effect of, "You know, it's weird. I love mom and dad so much, but just something about being away from them makes the world seem easier."

Haha! How right he is. As much as we love and need our parents (even in our adult years), the idea of trying to become a grown-up while constantly being influenced by their guidance is daunting. How could we expect to learn to ride a bike if the training wheels were permanently bolted on?

This got me thinking about the difference between "rebellious" teenagers, and "independent" adults.

When kids have conflicts with their parents - they're just stubborn or misbehaved. When adults have conflicts with their parents - they're just exercising their independence. But teenagers are seen as "rebellious" whether they're arguing about dating, curfews, school, work, life, or any valid conflict that a young person might want to bring up with their parents.

The I-Know-Everything Fallacy Case in Point: Michael created this image of himself  when he was about 15 

Of course there's truth to the stereotype. Teenagers have the added ingredients of hormones, inexperience, the I-Know-Everything-Fallacy, and lack of financial independence all stewing in the potential conflict cauldron. They're capable of (and likely to make) some poor decisions that get them labeled "rebellious."  But, I wonder if the stereotype of rebellious teen isn't largely an externality of our cultural norm that children move out as their teenage years are ending.

Allow me to explain. Kids begin seeking their independence more and more as they enter their teen years, and when they finally gain that independence and move out around age 18, they cease bickering with their parents and we assume that they've quit being "rebellious".

But, imagine that people lived with their parents for their entire lives. Suddenly, we wouldn't think teenagers were rebellious, we would think everyone over the age of 12 was rebellious. We'd be rebelling against our parents until they day they died if we had to live with them forever. Whether you're 15 or 45, living with your parents is kind of hard when you're trying to build your own life. Everyone is rebellious - it's just a question of parental proximity.

Maybe I'll feel differently when I'm the parent of teenagers, but for now this is my theory: Rebellion is just independence under someone else's roof.

The Improv, At Provo

Maestro Show, March 2011

"Whose Line Is it Anyway?" is going down as one of the top three most influential TV shows of my childhood. At ten years old,  I remember tuning in religiously to watch the transformation of these seemingly ordinary men into gods of comedy using only their imaginations and guts.

It struck me as such a strange and beautiful thing to do: to *willingly* go on stage without any preconceived idea of what you would be doing but only the vague goal of being funny. The thought would make mere mortals quiver.

No question I wanted to be just like them, but during my more insecure years, I wouldn't have admitted it.  It seemed to me like the only thing scarier than going on stage and being expected to make people laugh would be declaring my desire to do exactly that.  "Hi. My name's Ruthy and I think I am funny enough to deserve your attention." Just about stained my pants thinking of it.

Prop Show, April 2011. Photo by Jason Hansen

For that reason, I have to give thanks to my big brother David for pioneering the way for me and making it seem possible. By joining BYU's Improv comedy club, Laugh Out Loud,  while he was going to BYU, he awakened a glimmer of hope in me. "Hey--we're cut from the same cloth," I began to think "If he can do improv comedy well, maybe I can do it passably."

So, last November I finally mustered the moxy to start participating in the club, and I was surprised with two things: first off, that it was even more fun than it looked on TV. It made me feel all of the exhilaration and long-awaited fulfillment of an ADD six year old on Christmas morning.

Prop show, April 2011. Photo by Jason Hansen

I can only speak for myself, but to me, improv comedy was the thing I had unknowingly been missing for so long. I'm not being melodramatic when I say that it was very much like falling in love - right down to the sweaty palms, racing heart, and the sense of being impassioned, emboldened, and alive.

The other thing that surprised me about this whole improv comedy business was how quickly I began to receive positive feedback from the club leadership and  actually be cast in shows. Like. To perform. For real people. Who paid to be there.

The members of the club have given me much-needed criticism as well. With their help, I hope that I'm continuing to get better. For the past few moths, I've loved practicing with my new friends every Thursday evening. And that's arguably the best part of the whole deal: just getting to know and play with some truly  hilarious people. I feel like a more interesting person just for spending time in the same room as these talents.

Anyway, last night was a particularly good night for me. I was cast in our annual Audience Appreciation Show, and lucky enough to have some good friends attend the show to support me. To be honest, it wasn't the best performance of my life. Overall the show was good--not great, and I know I'm largely to blame.

The thing that made the evening wonderful, was that after the show, the club leadership somehow saw fit to invite me to join Laugh Out Loud as an official, permanent cast member (or "Player" as they call it).

If there's one thing I can't get enough of it's validation. So thanks, Laugh Out Loud, for making me feel great and teaching me so much. I hope to prove worthy of it.

And now for a few photos by the hilarious Jason Hansen: 

(By the way, the other two most influential shows of my childhood were The Simpsons and Ren and Stimpy. Honorable mentions: Scooby Doo and Animaniacs.)

Armless Baby is so, so futile.

Some days I feel like an armless baby on a dirty carpeted floor. I'm not sad because my rattle is missing or because my bottle is empty -- I'm sad because everything I want is complete and beautiful and immediately in front of me and entirely out of reach.

My warm bottle is there, but I have no hope of getting it anywhere near my mouth. My teddy bear cries for love but I am unable to comfort him. I can't even swat flies away from my stupid baby face or suck my thumb.

I have no thumb. And my dirty diaper is quickly forming a rash on my delicate, white, stinky bottom.

Anyway, today is not one of those days. Today, I feel like I have all the baby arms in the world, but I still thought I would finish and post this illustration that I started yesterday when I was feeling a little less armful.

French-Food-and-Film-Opinionated. We're so effin' sophisticated.

This might've been a decent photo if I'd have taken three steps to the left. Drat.

On a recent rainy weekend, we took a day trip to Park City, Utah to catch the tail end of the Park City Film and Music Festival.

Attending the very end of the festival worked out nicely for us for a few reasons.  Firstly,  all of the films had already been shown once, and the winners had been selected. So, we only had to choose among the winning films in each category. This mitigated the risk of getting stuck in a 3-hour artistic docu-drama exposing the seedy underbelly of the ball-point pen industry, or what have you.*

Secondly, the hardcore filmsters had already come and gone at the first round of screenings, so the venues were quiet and the crowds sparse. And, lastly - the underwhelming crowd left the concession stand with tons of extra popcorn, which was handed out for free. Score.

*Not that those films don't have their place. It's just that their place doesn't often coincide with my ideal weekend.

So, we let the real film appreciators sift through the chaff for us and they came up with this enjoyable film as the winner of the Fiction/Drama category:

It's written, directed, and starring, Kevin Foster, an accomplished stuntman who's made his first venture into writing, directing and acting (and pretty successfully for a debut). 

Who knows if this film will ever make it to a screen or internet database near you, but if it does, I'd recommend checking it out.  It's much more lighthearted and original than the IMDB synopsis makes it out to be.

While walking down historic Main Street afterward, we passed what I recognized as one of the few restaurants in Utah with escargot on the menu. As part of our ongoing quest to try exotic foods at every opportunity, we had to  stop in.  It happened to be 4:58pm when we were seated, so we were just in time for the half-off happy hour. Our escargot was a reasonable $9 instead of $18. Serendipity!

Historic Main Street, Park City, Utah

Escargot Tart, Bistro 412

Lamb/Feta Pizza, Bistro 412


Ryan reacts to his first ever taste of buttery garlicy snaily delight:  

Gift-giving for the discerning wellfare recipient.

Just thought I'd share a few ideas for gift-giving on a budget (because I love giving gifts and hate spending money). Forgive me if any of this seems atrociously obvious.

If even one person discovers one thing that hadn't thought of before, I'll say my job was done.

Greeting Cards:

If you're like me, you have a shoebox of birthday/wedding/graduation/thank you cards from years past. Someone less pack-rattish than me might have discarded them by now, but no. I've always held onto them for no real purpose.

I'm not that sentimental and I had no intention of ever re-reading their oft-groan-worthy messages. But it seemed rude to simply through them away.

Until I discovered this solution:

Turn your old greeting cards into a frankenstein of holiday sentiments.

Whenever I find myself in need of a card for a gift, I look through my shoebox of options, pick one out and before I do anything to it, I read it again and remember the person who gave it to me. Aw. How nice.

Then, I snap a digital image of the front and inside (there's a folder on my hard drive marked "greeting card archive") and after that, I don't feel guilty repurposing the card. The message is saved forever if I should ever want to read the note again, and now this card can live again.

I often cut the cards in half, and reuse just the front of the card. Somtimes the design of the card is such that the front can be reattached to a new back of card-stock seamlessly, or you can attach it with ribbon or rivets for extra awesomeness.

Also, I sometimes repurpose embellishments like ribbons and beads into new cards as well. Who knows. A glue stick and scissors are all it takes and it's much quicker than making your own greeting cards from scratch.

Wrapping:

Resourceful gift-wrapping can be more than just saving and reusing bows and paper. I dream up ways to reuse all kinds of materials.

I've been known to use jars, baskets, canvas totes, tinfoil, pillow cases, cardboard tubes, and scraps of cloth as gift-packaging when I was out of boxes and wrapping paper. People think you're being crafty or something, but really, you just wrapped their gift in whatever you could find laying around. Double score.

Stretch the limits of acceptable stuffing and covering.  I've  had great sucess with: newspaper, butcher paper, sack-cloth, easter-grass, and tulle.

Here's a present I wrapped with a recycled gift bag, a gift-tag made from what was previously a thank-you card, and for tissue paper I used the plastic mesh that some onions came in:

  

Showers (Bridal/Baby):

I get invited to a LOT of baby and bridal showers. Like, a whole ton.

Maybe it's because I live in Provo and almost everyone I know is married/engaged, young, and of child-bearing age. Maybe it's because the world is conspiring to make me fat on pink and blue cupcakes, but whatever the reason, I find myself constantly attending showers. And buying $30 gifts for every one can add up quick. Here are my go-to gifts for the semi-aquainted-friendly-person-who-I-don't-want-to-snub-but-don't-exactly-want-to-spend-a-fortune-on:

#1) Used books. Not exactly on the top of every lady's registery, I know, but I've had great success and been genuinely thanked (and re-thanked later on) for giving books by respected authors on pregnancy, parenting and marriage-prep (for the bride-to-be). Most ladies say they don't have as much literature on parenting as they want (especially with a first child) and a handy reference book can be just the thing.

Used book stores or amazon.com (if you're the planning-ahead type) usually have a whole pile of like-new books for cheap cheap cheap.

#2) Handmade gifts:

- Pacifer Clip (these have gone over great at recent baby showers). Here's an easy tutorial for a no-sew version.
- Diaper Cake (super easy, super cheap)  
- This Wash-cloth doll requires minimal sewing.
-  Frilly Apron (for brides) - look up a tutorial online. It's pretty simple sewing.

Food:

I'm not sure why people don't more often give food as a gift. At least to me. I can never get enough edible presents. It's tough to get more bang for your gift buck than with food.

Here are a couple of my favorite recipes that are good for boxing, jarring, shipping and gifting:

Vanilla Melting Moments. Photo credit: Cookbookqueen.blogspot.com.

Vanilla Melting Moments  (By Rachel Allen: Favorite Foods at home)

Biscuits:175g self raising flour
125g cornstarch
50g powdered sugar
225g butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Vanilla Butter Cream:50g butter, softened
125g powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 160 C/ (325 F) Gas mark 3. Place the flour, cornflour and icing sugar in a food processor and whizz briefly to mix. Add the butter and vanilla and whizz until it comes together (a minute or two, I do it slowly). Roll into 40 small balls the size of a large marble. Place trays on (no need to grease or line) and flatten down a bit with a fork. Bake for 10-15 minutes until still very pale in colour but, slightly firm. Remove carefully and cool on a wire rack.

Keep the same bowl in the processor and whizz the ingredients for the butter cream until they come together. Sandwich the biscuits with the butter cream. Makes 20.

Sweet Onion Jam (great for appetizers, sandwhiches, crackers, cheese, etc)

Adapted from Rachel Allen's Bake. 

30g butter
3 lbs onions, peeled and sliced
275 golden caster sugar (or brown sugar)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. freshly ground back pepper
200 ml. balsamic vinegar
500 ml. red wine.

Melt the butter in a large pan and add onions, sugar, salt and pepper. Stir and cook for 40 minutes over a gentle heat. (If you are concerned about getting all of the alcohol out of the wine, you may add it after the first  15 minutes of the onions cooking). Otherwise, add the wine and balsamic vinegar after 40 minutes and stirr occasionally until the mixture is slightly thick.

You're looking for a syrupy consistency. The jam will thicken as it cools. Place in sterilized jars, seal and label.

lastly: Infused Olive Oil:

Ingredients

• 6 leaves fresh basil
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 2 sprigs fresh oregano
• 1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil

Put them in a pretty bottle and let them steep for day or two before sending. Done!

More food gift ideas from foodandwine.com 

Graduation! Easter!

What a busy, fun weekend!

Ryan's parents and younger brother came down from Olympia to be here for Ryan's graduation. We got to spend some time with grandparents, dye some easter eggs, do a little shopping, and of course, make hot cross buns for Easter (a Ryan and Ruthy Stapleton tradition three years strong). 

He graduated Cum Laude from BYU which means that he was in the top 10% of his graduating class. No small feat! 

Dying Easter Eggs with friends (Note: Angry Bird and Scottish Plaid)

Office Easter egg hunt. 

One thing I'll especially remember about this weekend is the generosity of Ryan's parents to buy him the graduation gift of two new suits, which I'm sure will come in handy for law school and beyond. 

He looked great in both of them before they were even tailored, so I can't wait to go pick them up and make him parade around the house for me.  (His current set of suits are all pre-mission and have at least one stain or tear each, so these were a well-timed gift). 

When driving to be fitted for his new suits, Ryan and I had a little disagreement as to the location of the Men's Wearhouse. He wanted to make it a bet, and turns out I was right, so he got to buy me two new pairs of shoes: 

Hot Cross Buns

 Saying "So Long!" to ward friends since the ward boundaries have been redrawn.

Shaun got Ryan some pocket squares for his new suits. What a sweetie.