A female fetish

I was having one of those thought provoking conversations with my friend Adam the other day and the topic of conversation was shoes.  And specifically, the crazy things women do when they go into a shoe store.  Adam works at Nine West in San Marcos, Texas and in the time that he has worked there, he has seem some pretty crazy things.  The part of the conversation that had me in stitches was when Adam was telling me about why the shoe stores always display size "6" shoes on the floor.  Well, for those of you who are wondering this like I was, here's the answer.  
I need you to think back a moment to your childhood when you watched with your mother the classic Disney movie "Cinderella." Are you following where this is going?  Do you remember the hideously ugly stepsisters Anastasia and Drizella?  Yeah, the taller one with dark hair in the green dress who can't sing a note, and the shorter one in pink with red hair that struggles with the flute.  Now, think back to what happens next when Prince Charming comes back in search of his princess requiring that every female try on the glass slipper left behind at the palace the night of the ball.

Oh boy.  I hate this scene in the movie.  I get nauseous whenever I see the stepsister with the huge foot try and cram it into the dainty glass slipper....

WHY?!?!?!  Why oh why do women do this?  This is Adam's point.  Women come into the shoe store and see the cute little size 6 shoe on display knowing full well that they wear a size 9 or 10.  Does that stop them from trying to squeeze their foot into the size 6? No way.  We are strange creatures, us women.
Adam didn't believe his manager when she told him to never place a size 5 shoe out on the display because of this very "size differential" phenomenon.  Imagine the damage done to a size 5 shoe after countless "try-ons" by patrons with an obviously larger-than-size-five foot!  I'm going to avoid even getting into the details of trying on shoes - that thought also makes me a little queasy - let's just say I have issues, shall we?  haha!  Adam realized quickly that his manager was right - save the small shoes for the customers with small feet.  So really, shoe stores are looking out for the ladies with small feet that are lucky to find a shoe small enough for their size 5 foot without having those few pairs completely stretched out by others.  Interesting.  I really got a kick out of this conversation with Adam - as always.

If I sat down with some paper and a pencil and some free time that seems so hard to come by these days, I could write a very interesting paper on shoes.  They describe us - even define us perhaps.  I think about the people close to me and in my mind I can think of a pair of shoes from their wardrobe that defines who they are to me.  Shoes describe personality.  Check it out for yourself.  Next time you're out and about - pay attention to the shoes people are wearing.  Are they flashy and flambouyant? comfortable and clean? worn and falling apart, yet full of character from experience? all business?  Shoes say a lot about us.  Who we are, where we've been, where we're going, etc.  Oh the insights that come from being friends with a boy who works in a shoe-store.  =)  Whether we literally leave behind big (or small) shoes for others to fill, may the road always be one of challenges and triumphs...leaving marks for others to follow.  

Some Things Worth Falling For...

Autumn is definitely the best season of the year - hands down, no exceptions.  Today marked the day of my yearly excursion driving up Echo Canyon, through the quaint town of Morgan, and down East and Emigration Canyons to see the leaves change.  It was stunning folks!  Not only was I in the best company for the better part of the morning and afternoon, but the colors covering the mountainside were exquisite.  I've decided to make a verb out of this tradition.  You've heard the word "falling" before used in a number of different contexts, but now it signifies the action of taking part in what Autumn has to offer.  When you go "falling," you drive or hike through any number of canyons along the Wasatch Front soaking up the beauty of nature.  So, I went falling today.  And the best part is that I got to do it with the person I'm falling for...

Steve, or "003" as my dad likes to call him, has never taken the opportunity to experience Autumn in Utah like the Irvines do, so I took it upon myself to show him the ways.  Usually this adventure would occur in the Jeep which is currently sitting in our driveway.  Seeing as it isn't registered at the moment, we opted for a smoother drive in the CRV.  Part of the jeeping experience which we both missed out on today is the smell of exhaust that permeates your skin and clothes for days and days.  We did, however, find ourselves visiting Jeanie's Smoke Shop in downtown SLC on the way back home to say hello to Steve's uncle.  It was the perfect remedy for jeeplessness.  We came out of the shop smelling like pipe tobacco!  I think that marks a first for me, which made the experience that much better.

If any of you are wondering what to do with your time these next few weekends, I'd highly recommend taking a drive up the canyon to snap a few photos and make some great memories.  Here are some of my favorites from the day...

Miss Kristen and Mr. Adams soaking up the colors on a beautiful Autumn afternoon 
Lovely, simply lovely

I quite enjoy this picture of Steve - he claims to be a city boy, but this shot has country written all over it!
This reminds me of the burning bush.  Ha!  Is it a crime for saying that?  That is some crazy cool photography right there!
A personal fave - I dig the artsy angle and effect
Some lovely digital-photography-coolness brought to you by the wonder known as....Steve's camera
The pictures turned out great, but they really don't do it justice - you have to see it and experience it in person
I love this picture!  Every time I look at these trees I think they're looking back at me because of the eye-shaped marks on the trunks
Gorgeous, eh?!?!

A view of the colorful mountainside from across East Canyon Dam

A picture is worth a thousand words

I have realized as of late that photo journaling is WAY easier than writing everything down.  Yes, yes, this may be a sign of laziness, but C'MON, who of us isn't insanely busy these days?!?!  Some of you have read my works (aka - emails and such from my adventures and other crazy situations I find myself in) and know they can be pretty lengthy and descriptive - it's all about the details!  Looking over the last year I have realized that there is much more that needs to be written, but as the motto goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words."  So, to save time (yours and mine) and energy, here's a look at the last year in picture format.  It was a little difficult narrowing down my life to one picture per month, but it's a perfect exercise if you're trying to simplify your life.  And that's exactly what I'm trying to do.  Enjoy!!!

     SEPTEMBER 2008

A recent trip to Logan with Steve and Sara took place earlier this month.  It was my first demolition derby experience and I was sitting on the edge of my seat pretty much the whole time!  I'm not sure why I enjoyed seeing trucks and cars crash into each other so much, but it was a blast.  There was even a fire!  Steve was kind enough to let me hang out with his little Taiwan friends (Sara and Tammy) and we're all in Tammy's backyard enjoying a scrumptious barbeque

     AUGUST 2008

This summer was jam-packed with fun due to bunches and bunches of youth at three sessions of EFY.  I had an absolute blast as a counselor in San Antonio, Salt Lake City, and Provo.  This is outside the Museum of Art on BYU campus during my last week

     JULY 2008
My dad asked us all if we wanted to take a spontaneous weekend trek up to Martin's Cove to learn and see a little of our history.  It was a really fun and fast trip with my dear family - I think one of the funnier experiences there (probably the only funny one actually, the rest was pretty sobering) was sitting in an RV-type vehicle driven at full speed by a Sister missionary in full proselyting dress.  Classic!  I thought it was awesome that the senior couple Elders got to wear bolo ties and cowboy hats.  I wonder if they'll ever let that happen in the TSAM....

     JUNE 2008
My experience in Jerusalem during Spring term may mark the highlight of my entire year - the lessons learned, people I met, places I saw, and many cultural experiences I had in the Holy Land are all indescribable.  This is a pic of Katie-Katie, me, Ash, and Karissita (the roomies!) standing on one of the balcony levels of the Jerusalem Center overlooking the Old City

     MAY 2008
This is my definition of surreal - am I really standing in front of the Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza - in Egypt?!?!?!  This is my dad's definition of S.R.P. - if you care to know what that stands for, contact me in person =)

     APRIL 2008
I'd like to say that I can always measure the amount of knowledge and wisdom that my time at BYU has afforded me, but unfortunately I can't - it's kind of difficult to measure quantitatively.  I can, however, exhibit the results of my first dabble into oil painting Winter semester.  I don't recommend procrastination when it comes to painting and deadlines...

     MARCH 2008
The Irvines have a strange affinity for NYC.  I was lucky enough to accompany my parents on this trip with my aunt Karen and uncle Paul.  We met up with Lindsay who trained up from D.C. and had a grand 'ole time hitting up Mary Poppins and Wicked on Broadway, the Barber of Seville at the Met, and of course, cheesecake at Lindy's.  This is me and my dad on top of the Empire State Building

     FEBRUARY 2008
Oh my heavens!  This picture brings back a flood of hilarious memories from my weekend getaway to Sun Valley, Idaho with my dear friend Marie Munson.  We stayed at my brother's condo over President's Day weekend and played on snow sculptures, ice slides, bowled at the lodge, and as the above picture attests, had a blast in the laundromat.  Hehehe.....

     JANUARY 2008
Happy New Year!!!  I ditched Bountiful for Sun Valley right before school started and caught the best powder (and also the most tiring!) of my life at Baldy with Scott and Natalia - 24 inches overnight! All that snow enabled my inevitable premiere at "hookey-bobbing" with Scott, Nat, and Corey.  Life really is wonderful when you get to spend time with the coolest people ever - I love these guys

     DECEMBER 2007
December 2007 is one for the history books.  It was really special for the Irvine extended family (shown above) because 1) my dad is still with us after his major heart attack / LVAD / heart transplant episode that all started in January 2007.  And 2) this is the FIRST Christmas in who knows how long that my entire family was together for Christmas....seriously, I think it had been at least 10 years.  This picture sums up our year of miracles

     NOVEMBER 2007
Welcome home Ann....and Kris...and Penn.....and Sarah!  A friend of ours accurately referenced Alma 17:2 when he saw this picture of us - all dear friends from high school and before.  This is at Ann's homecoming.  It's pretty amazing having friends as fantastic as these girls.  Sarah and I served in Texas (McAllen and San Antonio), Ann served in the Sweden Stockholm mission, and Penn served in the California Oakland mission

       OCTOBER 2007
I LOVE Halloween!  I'm not really sure why, but I do.  Our extended family on my dad's side got together for a party at Karen's house and had a blast.  Costumes were required which made it that much more fun.  I made an appearance as Snow White, my mom was a witch (she even offered me a poisoned apple!) and my dad came as a subway station map using the scars on his chest as points of reference.  That's a little morbid if you ask me, but hey, it's Halloween Irvine-style

     SEPTEMBER 2007
Meet the crips!  Sarah was first, then it was Matt's turn, followed shortly by me.  All I have to say is that crossing campus on crutches is the most torturous thing in the world!  God bless the kind souls that offered to carry my bag and open doors for me at BYU.  I have yet to step onto a tennis court again with my dad.  I don't think I'M scarred for life or anything, but my ANKLE is still upset with my dad for that shady business that went down on the court

     AUGUST 2007
From TSAM to B-town.  Cullen snapped this shot of me and my parents at the airport when I came home from my mission.  I had no idea what to expect when I saw my dad (the last time I had seen him was a pretty grim sight.....lots of tubes and crazy machinery in LDS hospital when I came home for a week in January).  He was a little skinny as the picture shows but he looked sooooooooo good after his heart transplant.  Again, a HUGE miracle.  I have the greatest parents in the world and pretty much every experience I had this last year was enabled by them or involved them in some way.  They are remarkable people!!!!

So there it is, a year of my life in photo format.  It's been great - in fact, I couldn't have asked for a better one.  It always seems to work out that way - life just keeps getting better and better.  Thanks for taking this little walk with me down Memory Lane!!!

Ichi, Ni, San!!!

On the count of three, everybody say "cheese!"  I found myself at Sundance this afternoon enjoying some exquisite Fall foliage and had an awesome experience walking out of the lodge.  A group of tourists from Japan were sitting around some tables and I noticed one man taking a picture of the group.  I walked over to him and asked - using the universal hand gesture which I learned from Steve at his Taiwan party - "can I take a picture for you?"  I snapped a couple photos for my new Japanese friends and had the biggest grin on my face the whole time.  Every time I said, "one, two, three" they chimed in as well with really good - and really exuberant - English.  They were incredibly gracious and very friendly.  When I passed the camera back to the lady she immediately ushered me over to the bench where she had been sitting so that she could take a picture of me and the group.  Hahaha!!!  It was a blast!  It immediately took me back in time to when I visited parts of Asia with my parents in 1994 and people did the exact same thing - they'd ask to take pictures with us because apparently - we stood out like sore thumbs.  After a couple more pictures I asked them to teach me how to say "one, two, three" in Japanese and this was probably the most hilarious thing to witness.  They laughed a lot as I tried to get the sounds right, and I was laughing too because they were all saying the same word but at different times and volumes.  Wow!  Like I said, it was hilarious.  I think I'll stick with Spanish and German for awhile....  

It was an awesome experience connecting with people from the other side of the world for just a brief moment.  We shared some laughs and I'm happy they have this memory caught on camera.  It's cool to think about how many snapshots of life like these that each of us have and how easy they come.  

Life as an M&M

People occasionally ask the question, "If you were an animal, which would you be, and why?" Today I'd like to explain my life in the form of candy - the classic M&M.  These small chocolate-coated morsels were first made for soldiers in WWII  to have something sweet that, as the motto goes, would "melt in your mouth, not in your hand."  The "M's" stand for Forrest Mars, Sr. (founder of the Mars company), and Bruce Murrie (son of William Murrie - the president of Hershey Co.).  I have a mug on my desk that I picked up in NYC earlier this year with the sassy green M&M character which is fitting for two reasons: 1) green is one of my favorite colors and 2) as far as I know, the green M&M is the only one with a XX chromosome.  And luckily, green made the original cast of colors.  To go along with that was brown, yellow, orange, red, and violet.  What can I say? It looks like I'm an original!  Little did I know in February that in September I'd make some deep insight into my connection with a piece of chocolate.

So, on with the analogy to my life.  There are many situations I find myself in where I have to maintain my "hard candy shell."  It's a choice, actually.  Whatever you choose to call it - a thick candy shell, or maybe just a thick skin - it occasionally comes in handy.  It's saved me in some difficult run-ins with reality and allowed me to get back on my feet and move forward.  My most recent experience with this was saying goodbye to my dear friend Penelope Celeste just over 24 hours ago.  This dear friend is taking off tomorrow to start a new adventure in London to receive a Master's degree.  As excited as I am for her, I'm really sad that she'll be on a different continent for a year.  I gave her a big hug and thought I was fine (hard candy shell kicking in at this point), but in reality (which kicked in on my drive back to Provo), I was a slight emotional wreck (soft on the inside).  Dear friends seem to have that effect on me - bringing out the tender side.  The situation was slightly ironic because I remember at my farewell before leaving on my mission Penny's dad told me in church that the best goodbyes should be like pulling off a band-aid: the faster the better because it's a lot less painful.  I tried that yesterday with a quick hug and exit, but still, it hurt quite a bit.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing.  I'm also not saying that I consider myself feigning strength to cover up weakness - that's just not true.  But sometimes your heart strings are stirred a little deeper with certain experiences and you come to realize what you're made of.  I quite like the analogy.  I would much rather be an M&M than say a "Now & Later" that will eventually break a tooth, or something dreadful like that.  And heaven forbid that I may have turned out to be a sour-patch kid!!!  

So, after all is said and done, here's to all you M&M lovers out there - may you always enjoy this sweet little candy that has a punch of personality.  And Penn - here's to you my dear - may all your adventures be swell in the UK!      

The beginning of the end

Today happened to mark the first day of fall semester - a very important semester - it being the last of my undergraduate career at BYU.  One would think that I would be incredibly excited to start school again because I'm so close to being done.  Unfortunately that wasn't the case.  I feel completely spent in terms of academics.  As I have been reminded a few times lately, I've been at BYU way too long - my first semester was Fall 2002.  Yes, go ahead and count, that means I've been at BYU for six years now (two study abroad programs and my mission accounted for part of that time though).  Remember that story about the seven year itch?  Definitely a different situation, but some similarities can be applied - I have the jitters to move on and start something new.  I woke up this morning without an ounce of "first day of school" excitement and I'm shocked that I somehow managed to survive 11 hours on campus without any.  After spending a ridiculous amount of money on books, my dismal mood was compounded by having to dodge hoards of students all over campus.  That's usually how it goes for the first three weeks of the semester - people are everywhere.  I can't really explain that phenomenon.  Midway through the semester and especially during finals, no one is outside socializing.  You have the class break crowds making their way to their next class, but not a lot of congregating occurs as it does at the beginning of the semester.  After making it to all the right buildings I sat in my classes and could hardly believe that I was pretty intrigued and excited about all of them.  What can I say?  Roman history, the Italian Renaissance, and Early Christian/Byzantine art are all pretty exciting in their own right.  I suppose that I actually do enjoy being a student at this fine institution of higher learning.  The best part of my day wasn't because of my classes, but actually from running into dear friends from 1) my mission 2) my study abroad to Vienna AND Jerusalem, as well as 3) a participant that I had three weeks ago at EFY.  Crazy!  Had I run into a former member of the SPAC dance team, it would have been a complete canvas of my college career, but unfortunately that didn't happen.  Although, I could walk down the quad at my apartment complex right now and knock on Marie Munson's door to fulfill that last requirement.  I think I might.  There's never a dull moment when Marie's around.  All in all it was a really good day.  It ended in the coolest room on campus which also happens to be the best kept secret on campus - the planetarium in the Eyring Science Center.  Amazing.  Looking at the stars has always been a favorite hobby of mine (especially if the activity is occurring on top of a houseboat at Lake Powell) and now I get to do it for an additional 2.5 hours per week and get credit for it!  How lucky am I?  Despite all my worries and anxiety at the thought of my research papers due this semester, the upcoming GRE as well as grad school applications, today dear friends, was a fantastic beginning of the end!