Our Newest Addition

Meet our new kitten, La Fleur (aka Mr. F):


Isn't she the cutest ever? She joined our family yesterday and has been following me around ever since. She loves sitting in my lap while I type on the computer, watch tv, and/or read. Yesterday we took a nap together on the couch, but Josh was asleep upstairs so he missed the photo opportunity.

Yes, we're now crazy cat people. The third one makes it official.

Some of My Favorite Things (in Alphabetical Order)

Asprin

Bedtime


Chanel


Diet Dr. Pepper


Egg Salad


French

Google

Hula hooping


Ice cream


Josh


Kittens


Lambs


Moustaches


Novels, Mystery

Olives


Packing


Questions


Reading


Sunglasses


Turkey Bologna


Underwear


"Veronica" by Elvis Costello


Water (to drink)


Xericity


Yellow


Zeitgebers

HEY YOU! PLEASE HELP!

For those of you who do not know, I am currently working on my doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology. Along the way, I am also getting my Master's degree, which means that I need to write a Master's thesis. I am currently working on this.

Because my area of interest is Couples and Marriage, my thesis is related to variables that are correlated with marital satisfaction.

Therefore, I need those of you (both male and female) who are older than 18, are currently in a heterosexual marriage, and have been married for at least six months to take my survey by clicking here.

This should only take 15 minutes of your time. Absolutely none of the information can be linked to your identity. I will never know how you have answered, so please be as honest as possible.

Again, this is EXTREMELY important to me, as I need to finish my thesis by the end of the summer. Please take the survey as soon as possible. It will be available until the end of May.

Thank you so much!

Emily's Books Read in 2009: First Quarter

Earlier this year, I made a resolution to write down all the books I read this year, and I've kept it. Here are the books that I have read so far this year:

1. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (finished 1/7)

2. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (finished 1/10)
I think I liked this one better than the first one, but now I can't remember why.

3. sTORI Telling by Tori Spelling (finished 1/11)
An easy read, but interesting. I was a fan of the short-lived Tori Spelling show "So NoTORIous," which featured Zachary Quinto (of the new Star Trek and "Heroes" fame).

4. Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie by Barbara Goldsmith (finished 1/22)
This book was a manageable length for a biography. Normally I get about 3/4ths of the way through a biography and then get distracted, but I was always interested in this book. It made me remember why I will never be ridiculously successful-- I do not have the necessary insanity and drive. Marie Curie was NUTS.

5. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (finished 1/29)
This book was okay, but not great. I think it was an Oprah book. Someone recommended it to me, and I enjoyed it but I'm not sure I would recommend it to other people. I don't know. It's a forgettable book.

6. The Disney Mountains: Imagineering at its Peak by Jason Surrell (finished 2/1)
This book is about exactly what the title says. It's interesting, has pictures, and was written by someone who worked as an imagineer.

7. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (finished 2/7)

8. hypocrite in a pouffy white dress by Susan Jane Gilman (finished 2/12)
This is a funny book about feminism and the female experience, but definitely Laurie Notaro (The Idiot Girl's Action Adventure Club) is much funnier.

9. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (finished 2/13)
I read this book to screen it for my 11-year-old niece. It's a book about a dystopic alternate reality where everyone is required to get plastic surgery at age 16 so everyone is beautiful and no one can be jealous of each other based on looks. It is a very interesting concept and was a very interesting book, which is why I read the other two in the series.

10. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld (finished 2/17)

11. Specials by Scott Westerfeld (finished 2/21)
I guess there's another sequal, but I haven't read it yet.

12. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich (finished 2/24)
Technically I read this for my practicum, but I thought this book was excellent and I highly recommend it! Ehrenreich goes undercover in different minimum wage jobs across America to see whether she can live on that wage. Spoiler alert: she can't.

13. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (finished 3/5)
I unwisely finished reading this book instead of studying for an important test (which is why I'm having the worst term in school that I have ever had), but I became very invested in the denoument. This is a re-imagining of Hamlet in a loose way. Also, I imagine if you like dogs then the dog-training aspect of the story will strike a chord.

14. Electric Blue by Nancy Bush (finished 3/16)
The author is from Lake Oswego and the series is set in the Portland area. This is a detective story with a female protagonist, which seems to be the type of book I read most often. I liked it better than the first in the series (Candy Apple Red)

15. Ultra Violet by Nancy Bush (finished 3/21)
The third book in the series. The events take place directly after the second book, and you can't really read it and understand it without reading the second one.

16. Size 12 is not Fat by Meg Cabot (finished 3/22)
Meg Cabot wrote the Princess Diaries series (which I haven't read). This is another female detective series where the female protagonist is a former teen pop star whose mom embezzled all of her money so she is forced to work as a college dorm parent. I thought it was entertaining.

17. Vi Agra Falls by Mary Daheim (finished 3/25)
This is the latest in a long series of mystery novels featuring the proprietress of a Bed & Breakfast in the Seattle area. I like this series because of the clever titles, such as Snow Place to Die and Silver Scream. This book is not the greatest.

18. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (finished 3/30)
I don't think that Stephenie Meyer is the worst author ever like Stephen King has claimed. Obviously I'm not huge into the whole Twilight thing, otherwise I would have read the series before now (and seen the movie), but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.


Some books that are in my queue for the next three months:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
Plum Spooky
Bright Lights, Big Ass

The MAGIC is in the HOLE!

As a longtime fan of the CBS reality series "The Amazing Race," I was quite excited last season when the contestants' final destination city was right here in Portland. As they raced for clues, Emily and I recognized most of the landmarks. Then, the racers had to find a clue hidden by one of the food cart pods right in front of Emily's school on SW 10th street between Alder and Washington. They found the clue, but where would it take them? (hint: watch this video)



Ah ha... Voodoo Doughnut.

Now, when we watched this episode, we had never heard of Voodoo Doughnut; but, Emily and I are from Eugene and Hermiston, respectively, so I suppose that's OK. Though, we did see Ben Lee play at Berbati's Pan, which is Voodoo Doughnut's immediate next door neighbor. They actually are only separated by a wall; They're so close, in fact, if they were siblings, they'd be conjoined twins.

Anyhow, we'd never been there, but had heard from several friends that we should totally check it out. So, earlier this week, I headed downtown to the PCPA Box Office to buy tickets to see "Wicked" at the Keller Auditorium in April. After I was done, I decided to head down there and grab some confections to bring home (Em loves anything with sugar, so I knew she'd be a fan.).

Their selection is quite diverse... and some of it is just plain weird (a maple bar with bacon on top?!?). Here's what I ended up buying:


This is the shop's signature item, the Voodoo Doll Doughnut. A chocolate bar injected with raspberry filling, it's delicious!!



This one's called the "Old Dirty Bastard." Actually, I think it's just called "Dirt" on the Voodoo Doughnut Web site, but the woman at the register called it ODB. It was good regardless of its name.


This little guy is called the "Portland Creme." Emily said it was fantastic!


Sadly, the Voodoo Doll wandered into a bad part of the ShepAlder house... and well, we're still waiting for the results from the "CSI: ShepAlder's Kitchen" team. Our prayers go out to his wife and little Voodoo Doll kids.

One last thing: While I was in there, a woman from Hawaii came in and asked if we knew how to get to Sonic. The woman at the counter assured her that there wasn't one nearby... but, luckily for the Aloha State lady, there was a Sonic fanatic in her midst. She'd seen the commercials and wanted to try it out (as they are apparently not blessed with them in Hawaii), so I directed her to the only Sonic in the Portland-metro area over in Hillsboro.

The woman at the counter told her she should try Burgerville, but I told the woman that lots of people are willing to drive out of there way to go to Sonic (see: Josh and Emily driving in California whilst furiously searching through the "Exit Points of Interets" on their GPS). I was glad I could help.

Making the (Rock) Band!

Games are a big deal here in the ShepAlder house, but since our family is as small as a family can be, it's nice to have a little help from our friends. A couple of weeks ago, we invited a few couples to ShepAlder Manor for a lively evening of gaming. We started off with a round of Cheater with Anna and Travis (who showed up first), but once The Noakes trio arrived, the cards were traded for plastic guitars, a microphone and too-cool-for-school electronic drum kit. The Westons soon followed and we were off on a magical mystery tour through the exciting worlds of Rock Band and Guitar Hero: World Tour!


Taylor, Mark, Anna, Haylie rock the party, while Chris and Emily watch in amazement.


Mark is serious when it comes to playing the fake drums!


Anna jumped in with the vocals whenever Josh didn't know a song... or when it was clear he would have to sing it using his falsetto voice.


Haylie showed her true love for Chris by playing the guitar left handed, even though he was the only southpaw (OK, so she had little choice, as the guitar had, at that point, been set to "Lefty Flip" mode).


This one of only two views by which to take photos of a group playing Rock Band and/or Guitar Hero: World Tour (An aerial view would technically be possible, but probably unlikely do to pure logistics in scaling the walls).


Emily and Heather played a few rounds (most notably when all the women formed an all-girls group for a few songs), but spent most of the time talking and laughing at Josh's feeble attempts to sing really high songs like "Livin' on a Prayer" and "Beat It."


Cecilia mostly hung out and looked adorable. That's what she does best!


Even Haylie took a turn at vocals... and the band played on!


We never did complete "Beat It," as those intense Michael Jackson vocals proved to be too difficult to emulate. Maybe next time...

That's the POWER OF LOVE!

A week ago, our ward hosted a BACK TO THE FUTURE night. Ward members were invited to wear costumes from the years depicted in the trilogy, namely 1885, 1955 and the ever-so-nearer 2015.

Naturally, being that Emily and I are total rebels, we decided to honor one important year that did not receive an official costume endorsement: 1985 (aka, the year in which Marty McFly lives).

Emily decided to show her "true colors" and her stylish leggings (previously used for a Rainbow Brite costume for Halloween 2006). Cake on some makeup and a cloud of hairspray, and she was ready for a night of dancing on the ceiling, er, church cultural hall.


These leggings remind me of dragon tears, which, as we all know, turn into jellybeans... all the colors of the rainbow!

Josh decided that since he learned to play guitar far too late to coincide with the mid-80s music pout-a-thon, he would use this opportunity to apply some guyliner and live "In Between Days" (though, since this event took place on the eve of the weekend, perhaps "Friday I'm in Love" may have been a better theme).

Josh really isn't a very sad guy; rather, he tends to be quite optimistic about most things. Perhaps this contemplative moment was when he realized that removing eye makeup is no walk in the park, or somewhere equally pleasant, like "A Forest."

The night was fun and the decorations were rather impressive for a church activity. The cultural hall was divided into three separate areas, each representing the aforementioned years of Marty's 1.21 gigowatt-powered travels through time. 1955 offered delicious root beer floats, while 1885 rustled up chow of chili and sloppy joes (albeit one scoop only... which was exactly the amount of filling one would want to make their joe sufficiently sloppy!). Meanwhile, 2015 provided a scrumptious salad bar with translucent bowls illuminated with neon lights. It was pretty heavy!

One more thing: Everyone was invited to submit a high school photo to be displayed on the back wall. To conclude this space-time continuum disrupting post, here are the oh-so-amazing senior pictures Emily and I submitted, courtesy of the years 1999 and 1998, respectively.

Emily = Totally awesome in every way... even at age 17!

In a world with no cool, good looking guys for high school girls to fancy, the man with the trombone is king!
(Sadly, this world does not -- nor will it ever -- exist!)