A Nerd's Paradise: Part I

I had SO MUCH FUN today. My roommate Linda and I went to the Renaissance fair at Thanksgiving Point. There was so much to do and see. We planned on staying for maybe two hours, but ended up staying for five! I really think I was just dragging her along the last three hours or so, but I was having so much fun, I could have stayed for another couple of hours. That's kind of a compromise, right? There are a LOT of pictures, and I hope you guys see how cool it was there.

When Linda and I first got to Thanksgiving Point, we had no idea where to go. There were a lot of people milling around a bunch of booths, so we headed over that way to see what was there. This is what we saw:

 

 

 

 Vegetables. Tables and crates of mutant giant vegetables. Oh, and enough pumpkin pie to last for at least 5 Thanksgivings.

All kind of interesting, in a carnie sort of a way. By the way, I truly believe that if you can get your pumpkins to grow to that size, there is only one acceptable thing to do with them:

 

 

 The only thing that makes it better is to give it power.

There were shops and tents set up, of course, with silly homemade things, like pillowcases that don't match anything, and those wraps that you're supposed to wear on your abdomen that supposedly make you lose belly fat and really all they do is make you sweat and tug at your outfit all day. What there was definitely a lack of was anything related to anything older than 3 months ago. No maypole, no wandering minstrels. So Linda and I kept looking.

Eventually we wandered into the gardens, which are always worth a look. (A willing model is always fun, too.)

 

By then we had the sense to admit that we had no idea where to go, so we found the information booth, where we learned that we had been going the right way, we just hadn't gone far enough. (I blame the weird group of people all dressed up in business attire. They scared me off.)

When we saw a lady in the parking lot in a puffy, velvety, dark purple cloak, we knew we had either found the Renaissance fair, or Voldemort had just unsuccessfully tried to kill Harry Potter, and the wizarding world was too busy celebrating to worry about their wardrobe.

I'm so excited to tell you about what happened as soon as we got inside. But, it'll have to wait until Part II!

Pictures That Are At Least Worth a Couple of Words

I have a silly and mostly unproductive hobby of collecting pictures from the internet, some of which are funny, and others that have made me think. I always have organized blog posts about them, but at this point I have a whole folder filled with them, and so I think I'm just going to put them up in random order.

 This is a picture that my uncle took pretty much from my parents' house. I am in love with this picture. I love the mountains in Salt Lake.

 This quote particularly struck me because it's a sentiment that I've felt every single time I hear bad news. Even now as I'm hearing more and more about Syria, I mostly feel helpless. What on earth am I supposed to do about that? I have such a small circle of influence. So a long time ago I committed to being kinder, more generous, and more helpful to those that I know I can touch every time I hear about wars and tragedies. While it may not directly affect those in Syria, or those affected by any of the school shootings, or survivors of 9/11, or any other sad events in the world, it will help someone somewhere.

      On a completely different note, here's some sage advice on dealing with critics.

                       I thought these little bowl covers were a genius idea!

                  Someday I'll stop having to live paycheck to paycheck. Until then...

   I never know if pictures like these actually attribute the quotes to the right people, but whether or not Martin Luther King Jr. really said this, I think it's still good advice.

 At the beginning of the year, I was going write a post called, "The Anti-Resolution Resolution." Several years ago I made a New Year's resolution not to make any more New Year's resolutions. It's been surprisingly hard to keep, because I get caught up in the hype of making resolutions when everybody is talking about doing better and being better. However, I decided that making resolutions just because everyone else is doing it makes about as much sense as learning to dance "Gangnam Style" just because everyone else is doing it. Anyhoo, I think Calvin may be onto something here.

                                                                Lol.

                           Doing diddly squats daily is good for your health.

                                                           

 So this one came out when the Catholic church was awaiting a new pope. It's a pun in Spanish, which mostly I was just amused by because I understood it. In Spanish, "la papa" means potato, and "el papa" means the pope. So it says, "Black smoke at McDonald's, there's no pope/potatoes yet." Clearly it's hilarious in Spanish.

                                                        I feel this way a lot.

                                               The hypocrisy is enfuriating.

                       Cool "Weeping Angel" earrings for Doctor Who fans.

                                I should put this on my eHarmony account.

                                                        More hypocrisy.

What a beautiful idea! And it applies to people as well. Some of my favorite people, the ones I admire the most, are the ones that make something a bad situation. For example, I know people who have gotten out of abusive situations and put the pieces of their life back together. Even though I would never wish that on anybody, I believe that they're the strongest people I know.

You'll have to find a way to look at these life hacks. I just wanted to save these for later when they were applicable.

I often drink smoothies for breakfast. My power boost is usually a plant based protein powder. The one I have now has an algae in it called Chlorella, which, according to the research that I've done, can draw out the heavy metals in your nervous system (one of the causes of Alzheimer's). However, the powder doesn't taste that great, so I like to use this as a reference for finding good ways to hide the taste.

                                                          Yup.

                                                     I like this plan.

                              Really? Cuz it was working *so* well for me!

I think the previous picture answered it, as far as I go. But I know lots of amazing people who aren't married yet, and it's super puzzling as to why.

    "Scrubs" is hilariously ridiculous, but sometimes it gets things exactly right.

Okay, so I'm a girl, and sometimes I look at pictures of wedding rings. I like wedding rings that are more personalized. These ones are etched with the picture of the soundwaves of each other saying, "I do."

                                          Dr. Seuss was a smart guy.

                                                   Because people ask.

   
  A few more interesting wedding rings. Not ones that I would actually want, but I like them better than diamonds.

These 2 are from "Pantsocalype," the Sunday where women across the country wore pants to church. I think many were worried about the reactions of others, but the note from one woman to another was sweet, I thought. As far as women wearing pants at church goes, I don't really care what people wear. I think it's more important that people are there, rather than what they're wearing.

Pictures from a Skype conversation with my awesome friend Randi. I love this girl, even though she makes weird faces.  (Although, to be fair, I'm pretty sure she was right in the middle of saying something when I snapped this picture. Or about to sneeze.)  :)