top ten tuesday: classic novels.

Originally this post was going to be a top ten books list but anyone who's spent four to five minutes with me knows narrowing down said list proved difficult once I started creating it and had to glean it three or four times before snapping my pencil in half and throwing it across the room in frustration. No anger issues here. So I'm going to break any book lists down into categories, as much as I dislike putting labels on things. First, some rules: No poems, plays, memoirs, travel writing, nonfiction--basically the list is limited to fiction classics. What constitutes a classic? Well that's an undergraduate seminar in itself...

From Wikipedia: The word classic means something that is a perfect example of a particular style, something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality. The word can be an adjective (a classic car) or a noun (a classic of English literature). It denotes a particular quality in art, architecture, literature and other cultural artifacts. For my purposes, I add my own bias to this definition in that these are also some of my favorite novels. Mine!

Top Ten Classic Novels

1. North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell
2. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
3. Dracula, Bram Stoker
4. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
5. A Room With a View, E.M. Forster
6. Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy
7. Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
8. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
9. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
10. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby

cubby graduates college.

Yesterday was commencement for BYU's graduation. It's crazy how fast time goes; I feel like it was just a couple months ago that I was a freshman living at U Hall of Deseret Towers and planning with Cub for the time when she'd be at BYU with me. Now we're both done with that shiz. Insane. We're both planning on going to grad school one day; it'd be awesome to be in the same program. Part of me still wants to go the doctorate route, (can you see me as a professor??) but money being what it is right now (nonexistent), that dream's kind of put on hold. Le sigh.

Anyway, I'm so proud of little Cubs and everything she's accomplished. She is the cutest!

top ten tuesday: museums.

So I'm not feeling very well today, hence the boring-ish top ten this week. Wait, what am I saying?! These museums are amazing! They really are. And I'm usually better at drumming up some enthusiasm for these things. :::stares off into distance for an uncomfortable amount of time:::

Top Ten Museums

1. National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.
2. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
3. Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.
4. Guggenheim, NYC
5. Imperial War Museum, London
6. Utah Museum of Fine Arts (this one's probably more about memories than anything else. Good thing this is my list, eh?)
7. Salem Witch Museum, Salem, Massachusetts
8. Museum of Modern Art, NYC
9. Battle Of Gettysburg Museum, Pennsylvania
10. Tate Modern, London

Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

Since I don't have church until 1 pm, Sunday mornings are my time to do whatever I want. Writing, art projects, scripture reading, and most of all, baking and cooking. I try to have at least one new recipe to experiment with on Sundays. The ultimate relaxation to me is baking something I've never made before. I can take my time and have nothing else to think about but measuring, sifting, rolling, and so on. Most of the enjoyment I get from baking is the preparation; eating really is secondary for me. (Unless it's chocolate cake or something involving pastry cream. Then it's all about eating as much as I can until I hate myself and have to stop.) Today I tried something new with a banana bread recipe I've created over the past few months. And the results were so delicious I thought I'd share. Usually I'm not a fan of mixing banana and chocolate--I prefer to keep them in their own tasty categories--but this one just kind of cried out to be tried. So here is my recipe for Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. As with any recipe, be sure to read through the entire thing before beginning. Hope you like it!

Ingredients

3 (very) ripe bananas
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter (room temp)
2 eggs, well beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup cinnamon applesauce
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (I used Private Selection dark chocolate chunks)
2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mash bananas and set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. (Use electric beaters only to cream these two. After this point, use a spatula or wooden spoon to stir.) Stir in eggs, mashed bananas, vanilla, almond extract, and cinnamon applesauce. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, salt, and baking soda together. Add to the first mixture in two parts, stirring together each time until just combined. Stir in the dark chocolate chips. Place batter in greased pan* and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top before placing into the oven.

*Now you have a choice, a delicious choice--the best kind, really: You can either split the batter between two greased 9x5-inch loaf pans OR you can bake it in one greased 9x5-inch loaf pan. The difference? It depends on the size (height) you want your loaves to be. If you're used to a rectangular shape for your bread, split the batter between the two pans. But if you're like me and want a taller bread that will result in square-shaped slices, put the whole kit 'n kaboodle into one loaf pan. So the choice is yours; it just depends on the aesthetic you're going for. Here are the baking temperatures for each choice:

Two 9x5-inch loaf pans: Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 275 degrees and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes two loaves.

One 9x5-inch loaf pan: Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Reduce heat to 275 degrees and bake for an additional 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes one loaf.

Once the bread is out of the oven, let it cool in the pan before tossing it out onto a wire rack. Slice and serve as needed (in my case, needed=a lot). Really good with some cream cheese spread over it. Yum!

the world is open to us.

Lately I've had the nature of discontent on my mind--where does it come from, why does it effect some people more than others, and how do we combat it (should it be combated)? Why do people who have seemingly awesome lives still want/need more? This train of thought led me to wondering if the issue is with our own brains. I remember being, alas, so young and thinking I could and would do anything with my life. But now in my bitter old age I'm wondering how someone could be so idealistic and naive.

But the thing is, the world doesn't get any less open, the possibilities any less endless as we grow older. I think what changes is inside of us. For whatever reason, we become closed off to the idea that we can make a difference and effect change in the world.

It seems I've been shackled down by the phrase "I want _____________, but I can't because ____________________." Really? I think that if I actually took the time to analyze the second half of the statement and find out where it comes from I would be more on my way to being a better person.

One of my favorite authors, A.J. Cronin, wrote an essay entitled, "The Turning Point of My Career." And something he said really stuck with me:

"The virtue of all achievement is victory over oneself."

This speaks to how the only thing stopping us from having what we want is ourselves, our way of thinking, etc. I also really like this story about Bruce Lee that Natalie had linked to her blog. It fit in with what I was already writing so I thought I'd share it too.

On the reverse side, I think a little discontent is good for you because it means you're striving for better things. It's all in what you're discontent-ing for, I guess. Anyway, just some thoughts I had running around; nothing very coherent here. But I have to write these things down or else I lie awake thinking about them all night. And my co-workers know I need my sleep...

UPDATE: I am in fact only 24 and have a million awesome things left to do with my life. So there's that.

Meet Caiti. Love Caiti. Miss Caiti.

This is Caiti:

I've known this girl for 15+ years. Our families lived down the street from one another for about twelve of those. I love her like a little sis. Two weeks ago Cait married the love of her life and is now on her way to a fabulous adventure in another state! I'm so excited for her. But I wanted to say goodbye to her publicly and wish her well.

Some of my favorite memories with Caiti include the following:

1. Countless girl's camps, Young Women's activities, and ward adventures. (Good old Welby 5th Ward.)
2. Sitting on my parents' lawn during the summer and talking.
3. Dancing like crazy people in her parents' driveway in the rain. And having her mom catch us.
4. "Frenchables"
5. BARF!
6. Riding through the neighborhood, up on 90th by the library (before it became all legit with a "stoplight"), and up by the high school on a golf cart that Taco got from "somewhere."
7. Making movies with Jess's camera--Skye Park; Dancing to Chiodos, Fall of Troy, etc in the car; et al.
8. Driving around in Expedition, blasting hip hop, rolling down the hill at the high school.
9. The Jetta Incident.
10. My mom and her crying together, EVERY TIME. Those two.

And countless others. Caiti is awesome; she's a real person, she's true to herself, and she is hilarious. I love her unique outlook on life and will miss having her face around! Love you Schmatey!



At a football game.


Us at a girl's camp. Not prison camp, as our outfits would lead you to believe.

top ten tuesday.

A newly instituted event here at FS will be a randomly selected top ten list published each Tuesday, in which I foist upon you my very biased but thoughtfully selected tops. Each list is carefully guarded by a strict code of moral conduct, created by yours truly. (Because I can't plan for every contingency. And I make the rules here, on this my blog.) This week:

Top 10 Albums.

Here are the rules:
1. Each album is selected based on its playability all the way through. (Visceral reaction is important.) I'm looking at these as a whole; so while some songs, while awesome in themselves, weren't enough to pull through the rest of the album. We're talking start to finish, here.
2. No movie/musical/TV show soundtracks. This could be another top ten by itself, ya know?
3. Only one collection of greatest hits allowed.
4. Other than that, the sky's the limit.
5. Nickelback automatically makes the cut. (I'm kidding. But seriously...no I'm kidding. But really.)

Rachel's Top Ten Albums of April, 12, 2011

1. Ghost, Radical Face
2. Rotten Apples, Smashing Pumpkins
3. Morning View, Incubus
4. Silent Alarm, Bloc Party
5. Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, My Chemical Romance
6. American Hearts, A.A. Bondy
7. Give Up, The Postal Service
8. A Rush of Blood to the Head, Coldplay
9. Absolution, Muse
10. Wreckorder, Fran Healy

I'd be interested to hear what your top ten (or any number) would be, so let me know.

scenes from the weekend.

1. MCR at In the Venue. We were a lot closer than this picture makes it seem, but at least you can see Gerard's red hair in this photo. (Thanks to Derek!)
2. Pretty little maids all lined up in a row. Those three shirts represent 10 years of blood, sweat and tears.
3. Ultimate nachos! What better food to eat during...
4. ...a Tron-athon.
5. It finally stopped snowing long enough to give us a cool sunset.
6. New Food Network Magazine. If they know what they're about, they'll have more Ina recipes this month.
7. Oh that? That's just my bed, being a temptress before church.
8. Spring pink nails.
9. Dress, tights and boots. Tights=someone didn't shave their legs in time for church...

Ca c'est tout. Bonne nuit!

pure, unadulterated love.

Tonight was the MCR show. And of course I was reminded of just how much I love this darn band and the people who play in it. I love them with the purest form of love I know, similar to that of how I love my family. Yeah, they're kind of a big deal to me. Every one of their shows I've been to has transcended any other creative venture I've witnessed, and that's saying something. I love how they remake themselves anew with every album yet still remain true to their core mantra of always being yourself and not apologizing for who you are. From New Jersey to Los Angeles, I've followed this band since high school, and my love gets stronger every year. It's hard to put into words how much they mean to me and how much they have helped me through everything, the things I couldn't talk about but still needed to deal with. Their music said (says) it for me. Let's just say that some people take Prozac, but I listen to My Chemical Romance. This band helped me realize that life is worth living, and living well, and it helped me to figure out the things that are most important to me (family, church, creativity, being a Christlike person, etc) and I can't thank them enough. It's not just about the "music," it's the whole package. (Although the music is frakking sweet, let's be honest.) People who don't understand where I'm coming from might find this melodramatic or that they can't relate. All I'm saying is, for me this band can do no wrong. Haters gonna hate, but then hate always stems from ignorance.

Happy Birthday, G! I love you for your creativity, passion, drive, craziness, face, voice of a thousand sleepless nights, and most of all your self. Never stop running.

Anyone else want to go?

Leeds Festival, here I come.

welcome to fantasy land.

Oh boy. So I recognize the fact that I'm a pretty restless person as it is. But I CANNOT turn my mind off lately. I want to do this, or go here, and have that, until it seems I'm never satisfied with anything. I know that I have a pretty sweet life; I'm not discounting that. But sometimes I feel like it's not enough for me, and that's a little disconcerting. It might be possible to have too many interests and to want to experience too many things to the point where all you think about are the "if onlys" and forget to enjoy the present moment. That seems like an oxymoron, I think that makes sense. I'm a little amazed at how easily I get bored and move on to the next thing. [Relationship parallel alert.] If I had one goal in life it would be to stop living in my head so much. I think too much about things I can't control and not enough about what I can really do to make my life better.

Chalk it up to spring fever, I guess.


Is it weird that I imagine myself living in a place like this?