gray clouds...smiling at me

a few days ago it rained through the morning.

i woke up today to gray clouds and blowing leaves...

in some odd way,

the cool air and sense of fall make me miss DC in october...

i miss the hour-long metro ride to school in my cowgirl boots...

trampling over sun-stained leaves that look painted on the brick walkways...

even sitting inside and hearing the wind whistle tugs at me...

it makes me think of the housefronts and all of the cute kids there.

it is funny that it's been 2 full years and i still miss my brief stint as an

"east coast girl"



this makes me want to get some pumpkins and liven up the place.

at very least its time for some snickers mix.

stat.

what's in a name?

at one point in my life,
i loved all things east of here.

asians, being free, nyc, d.c.,
i loved the east coast,
the pace, the people,
the access to information and good ethnic food.
and i loved the idea that i might someday
occupy that land of wonderment more permanently...

as some of you know,
i used to call this domain
"west coast girl - east coast world"

well,
not that i chose not to love my east coast life,
or asians for that matter,

but things started to heat up in az for me.
and so i stayed.

i have to admit,
i am one, happy, west coast girl

~meg

side note: in case you are interested,

a "blog interview" site interviewed me recently.

feel free to read it here.
and rate/vote if you feel so inclined...

another reason to smile today...

this is giving me all kinds of dc memories...

(its a new one! and the first time i've seen it in az!)


[happy tuesday!]

my current job:

needless to say,
it's not going so well.

i went to get certified to substitute in AZ.
$60 for the certificate alone,
another $70 for more fingerprinting/background checks...
(and no, DC's aren't good enough.)
oh- and it would take 4-6 weeks to get the info back to get a fingerprint card...

forget that option...

gee, i thought applying for 25 jobs on the east and having them all fail was a sign i needed to be here.... um.....hey Mesa,

show me the money!

...back to work we go...


i am loving this weather though,
and loving my life right now....
...in spite of the lack of job and things...

just in case you were wondering...

{TGIF - happy friday!!}


oh, if you noticed, its national pie day...
"you can't have a pie without coo-hwip!"

2009 just might be fine.

remember these goals from last year?

lets see how i did:
(gee, it's good have someone to report to!)

• graduate. check.

• run a marathon (right...)

• direct a show. check and check. (i know, i got nothin on landon and dave ;)

• move out of Utah. check.

• read the BoM twice. um... once. half check.

• find the tact I lost somewhere on the way. (apparently not)

• be more grateful. check and check and check... to name a few...

• go to the gym 3x a week... right. (i did do that during the summer months though, and most of the fall in DC... so about 80%?)

• make more life-long friends. (i have lost a few maybe, the the ones i made may be too many to name... most are in the east. one is in the oregon. miss you all!)

• be a better aunt and visit and spoil lots. i only wish. :( 

• help to expand my family. it only takes nine months though, ya know...

• go to my first concert. check, check, and check. (not blogged due to lack of timely fotos was the legwarmers concert. brilliant 80s cover-band in dc.)

• travel out of the country for the first time. nope!

• tell my family I love them more

• read more books. check

• serve more

• smile more

• live more

• and love more

• • • • 2009 • • • •

my self-imposed theme for this year:

• JOY in the JOURNEY •

"my sincere prayer is that we may adapt to the changes in our lives, that we may realize what is most important, that we may express our gratitude always and thus find joy in the journey."
-Pres. Monson November 2008

my english teacher once asked u to write:
"are you more about the journey or the destination?"
i wanted to get the answer right so i remember thinking about it
long and hard and eventually turned in my mission statement
with these words on the bottom:
"i am all about the journey...
...the destination is my ultimate goal."

this year I hope to:


• journal weekly
• buy myself a new computer/phone
• run a half marathon
• visit UT to see my family
• record an album
• go to the temple
• read the BoM
• go to at least two concerts
• move permanently to the east
• get my first salary job... very soon
• get out of the country for the first time
• try my hand at patience (giving up on tact-finding)
• take a photography class
• be more grateful
• laugh so hard my stomach hurts
• go to nyc to shoot fotos
• buy a car
• call an old friend once a week
• let go of the past
• enjoy every day & find something to smile about


good luck to you and yours for 2009
as scary as it is to be unemployed,
unattached,
completely broke,
temporarily at home,
and about to make some of the largest decisions of my 23 years,
this west coast girl, like 2009,
just might be fine...

{happy new year!}

i will buy you a big house, where your garden can bloom

searching for housing has been a joke...
i really shouldn't even be looking until i have a job, i know parentals...
(who are so trying to get me to stay)

all i have to say is that some of these girls could be psychos...
so maybe i should wait until i can meet them in person!


on one of the posts:
"three other roommates who hold regular book club meetings.
we like authors like jane austin...etc."

...whoah... done.
not that I am against reading, or jane austin for that matter,
but when it must be advertised that you meet and discuss her in depth,
that most certainly means that you are also deciding why all men are gay and you hate them...
(thanks, but no for me...)

another great one:
"three other roommates are endowed,
so we will be looking for another roommate who is also endowed."

really? really?
do you make us flash our undies at the door...?
the recommend?
i can't even imagine the other judging that goes on in that house!


I am looking for one that looks kind of
like this:

• close to the city and metro
• 2-3 bedroom townhouse
• furnished & wood floors
• in-house washer/dryer
• back porch with grill
• fairly large kitchen
• master bedroom includes a man and a ring

... i don't think that's asking for too much do you?

see what i mean?

i got an email from one of my students that just said,
"hi ms. moffat, we miss you at duke."
(when she replied, she let me know that the boys did their
"ms. moffat" dance for everyone at the christmas party... awesome.)

a friend of mine who teaches at the school IMed me this morning
and said that in response to:
"who would you choose for Time's person of the year 2008?"
a student put me... even funnier....

i think it is because they love that i am part black...
as evidenced here:

(note: I am new to this editing program...
there is one profane word that i tried to cover...
get over it. $--- happens, right?)

know how i know it snowed? my google theme...

on saturday, i checked my email that looked like this...


then i went outside to verify.

and it was right!!! i have never been more excited to see snow...
maybe its cause it doesn't seem as cold as utah and it doesn't snow as much..
so you can have time to enjoy it rather than live the 3 months in a vitamin d-depression...

it hasn't snowed since. and now i am sad about it.
arizona doesn't have snow... like ever. boo.

snuggies vs. wedgies

a friend of mine and i have been having the same argument for years now...

— where i come from, a wedgie is what your brothers did to you by yanking on your panties* from the back and painfully lodging them between the cheeks...

— a snuggie has always been an inevitable self-inflicted position in which any sized panties will become lodged between two over-sized cheeks of butt**... happens to those of us white girls with black in the back....

he seemed to think that a wedgie counted for both situations...
no. it doesn't. and now it is blogged, which makes it truth.
i win.

apparently someone had another idea of a snuggie...

and i thought the long ugly coats i have been checkin out on the metro were bad enough... gross.

...now that i mention it, i think i HAVE seen some of these on the metro...ew.

if they only knew what i think of when i see their product...

* i apologize to those of you who [like me] have a loathing for this word. it had to be used.
** sunday is apparently a day to be graphic... again, sorry. no i'm not. it's my blog dag nabit.

check it: a little directing project...

so, i helped to direct these crazy faces in a project called TextAlive.

they are one school of 15 that got a scene from a Shakespeare play and they come up with their own concept and then {today} they put em all together—mostly for parents and show-off purposes... but it was a big deal.

i guess i don't have to tell you that their scene was the best one there...

the Shakespeare Theatre Company stage (that they performed on)

it was a great success. ok, maybe i will stay another week.

...but then i really have to go...

...cause my mom can't put up the tree without me...

MEMORANDUMTO: All Black Parents

SUBJECT: Re: Naming your children
DATE: Effective Immediately

Please don't start naming your children after President-elect Barack Obama…

Obamaneshia, Obamalaya, Obamaria, Barakesha, Barakyah, Barakakhan, etc.


Give your children a chance to grow-up without being burdened by a ridiculous sounding name.

the golden rule:

so what
if i have had a secret desire to have paparazzi
follow me and my [non-existent] lover
all over and take fotos of us
being in love...

this is becca and her husband jason.
she is a teacher of spanish.
they are beautiful.
and one of these pictures needs to
become their christmas card.

as usual, you can comment here, or
on the picasa album.

lets help them pick:
what should be framed, and what should be on a card?

location: most of these were shot at Harper's Ferry near DC,
the most foto savvy area i've ever seen.

donelle & kim -- cousins not lovers.

i apologize for the length of this series,
but i had a little bit of fun with these two

again, let me know what you think.

if you want to leave comments individually,
feel free to stop by the picasa album of this series.

i love my friends.

and that's not just because they make beautiful subjects...