Exhausted.

I'm exhausted.

I've been pretty busy this month, and I've taken a lot of pictures. I am currently in the process of preparing them for posting. I wanted to get them out tonight, but that isn't going to happen.

I guess you'll just have to wait a little longer to be updated on my life.

The Path Not Taken

For some reason, a reason I can't figure out, my cousin Laura has never been to Hearst Castle.

Laura and her 'rents are moving to Missouri in a couple of months, and Grandma wanted Laura to experience the castle, so Laura and I went to experience. Naturally we went on the Experience Tour, which is Tour 1 plus the IMAX theater where we watch Building the Dream and it's possible to get a little motion sickness. But it's so cool. No for realz. It is so cool.

Well, Tour 1 happens to be the recommended tour for first timers. Seeing how I'm no first timer, it was a bit boring, but I did enjoy taking pictures.





The thing about a visit to Hearst Castle is that I always want to explore on my own. I want to go down the paths that have been forbidden. I just want to check it out. See where they take me, you know?

Well, this would never fly with my tour guides, so I had to settle for taking pictures of the paths I wanted to go down.


Like this path. Also, I love these lions.

Where does this path go? I don't know for certain, but probably somewhere wonderful and magical and full of delicious fruits.






That's the ocean out there. I wanted to post a billion pictures of the coast line, but I'm sure you know by now that I like the ocean, and also I didn't want to depress anyone, so I decided to omit those pictures, and just carry them around in my heart instead.



Just another path not taken...


I was pretty surprised at how bossy they were concerning touching objects that have no history or can easily be replaced. Take this lounge chair for example:


We weren't allowed to sit in it. This is interesting because I have a picture of me lounging in this same chair when I was in Junior High School.

And, below we have the oldest piece in the Hearst collection:


I had Laura stand in front of it and pretend that she was part of the statue, but it didn't turn out very well. In fact, there really are no pictures of us because they didn't turn out very well. This is mostly due to Laura, I think. She kept not wanting to take pictures. And, really, with an attitude like that, how can we expect a good picture anyway?


For those of you who don't know, the highlight of Tour 1 is the viewing of both pools. You have already seen the outdoor pool, and now you get to see the indoor pool!

That's a diving platform in the middle, and they say that this pool is 10 feet deep all across, but I haven't been able to test that yet.


Okay, I need you to put on your thinking caps. Take a look at the picture. This is an upside down picture because that's how you see it on the tour. This is officially the main entry to Casa Grande. Obviously tours don't enter through those doors, because we would be treading all over the mosaic that they want to preserve. Instead, the tour simply walks by this little area. If we turn around we are overcome by the grand room in front of us and we forget all about the mosaic. I have looked at that floor many times, I have taken unsuccessful non-flash pictures of it, and this is the first time I've actually gotten a decent picture.

And what did I find? What is that, I ask? I think I know what it is! It's Ursula and her eels from The Little Mermaid!

Seeing how Ursula is scary, I figure we should end this on something sweet. How about a nice poppy?

The Realization of Hottness

I have a hard time recognizing exceptionally Hott people. I'm terrible at it.

So, let's discuss Hottness. All I know is that it comes in two types: male and female.

Male Hottness

At work I will finish helping a male customer, the male customer will leave, and my female co-workers will say something like, "Wow, he was soooooooooooooo good looking." And then they will sigh and shake their heads like they can't believe such a specimen was within their gaze for even that short while.

They will comment on a person's fineness, and I will say, "What?! He was?! Crap! I missed it again!" and then will frantically look out the window in hope to catch a glimpse of this person. If I do find the man, I quickly try to figure out what it is that makes him so fine, and I usually have no idea or can only see the back of his head.

When my co-workers tell me someone is good looking, I try to memorize their features so I might be able to recognize a similar pattern in the future. So far this isn't working. I still have no idea what makes someone visually appealing. Visually Hott, I mean. I'm not talking about regularly good looking people. I'm talking about the thing that makes my co-workers turn red, get nervous, and have a hard time speaking. That evasive Hottness.


Female Hottness

I have no idea.

Female friends may mention that someone is, "So pretty," "absolutely beautiful" or the like, and I won't know what to say. I don't agree, because I feel like I can't acurately judge them. So, when asked for my opinion I say, "Uhh...sure..." which means I'm a jerk, or completely insecure about myself as I am unable to recognize when someone is obviously better looking. These sorts of things never turn out well.

The same thing occurs when males comment on the attractive level of a female. I'm usually left speechless.


So, what then?

What do I recognize, then? In both men and women I recognize cleanliness. Are they taking care of themselves? Are they showered?

As a bit of a side-note, let's talk about tattoos. If a female has a tattoo, I usually just think they are dirty. (I'm not talking chlamydia dirty--although I would know about that--I'm talking dirt dirty.) I would see a tattooed female and think, "What's with the smudge of dirt on her neck and behind her ear? Oh.... it's a tattoo... she put that there....okay." But, I am able to recognize a tattoo as a tattoo if it's on a man. Go figure.

Right, anyway, in females, I also notice if they appear to have gotten ready for the day. I can appreciate someone who spent time on her hair, outfit and makeup. I know that can be hard some times, but I think it is an important factor in the presentation of self. So, I notice those things, but I have no idea if that makes them Hott.


Sigh.

I think it will be an unending journey into the realization of Hott.

Cheaper and More Convenient

Due to my laissez-faire-ish attitude towards the social aspects of my ward, I basically have no idea what is going on in everyone's private lives.

I know, I'm lame.

But, recently, I have found a source. My source informs me of the personal goings-on of my peers. It's super handy. I get to hear who has broken up, who has gotten together, who is uncertain whether they like every boy or just most of them, and it all comes in handy bits of text information.

Now I get information that isn't any of my business without ever seeking after it! It's ideal! For example, I woke up this morning to find a text informing me of the latest bit of ward gossip. It's like my very own US Weekly, except cheaper and more convenient.

Tahoe and Small Planes

Look what I found!

Lake Tahoe!

And a stump!


I like this picture because it looks like Ky and I are connected at the leg. Only three legs for us, thanks.
Have you met Mike?

This is Kylie's husband, Mike:



And this is da Lake:

If I were on some sort of social networking site, I would probably select this as my profile picture:


Mike kept trying to take over the stump, but Kylie wouldn't let him.





I wanted to show a lot more stump photos, and seeing how Kylie already made this excellent stump montage, I decided to just steal it from her:



Ohh... that was the last Kylie and Mike and Sky Reno trip picture. Sad....

But, I have some coming home pictures! I like the journey through the clouds.




Can you see the ocean?

Also, medium-large planes freak me out. I prefer the small planes that fly into San Luis Obispo. You know, the planes with only 9 rows of seats? Those are the best.

Jam Packed

My parents, apparently, aren't interested in being around for holidays this year.

They weren't here for Valentine's Day, they almost missed Easter, they won't be here tomorrow for Mother's Day, and they won't be here for Father's Day either.

So, it's just Mary and I holding down the fort. Which leads me to the fantastic day I had. Mary, Tara and I decided it would be in everyone's best interest if we went to the beach today.

Mary was making her usual internet rounds before we left for the beach, and she came across this great deal. We were so stoked. That little bag is jam packed with tons of great products, we knew immediately that it needed to come live with us. So, we decided to go halfsies. And although Mary did end up with the Smash Box Photo Finish foundation primer SPF 15, I did get the Ole Henriksen herbal day creme with SPF 15, so I figure we split everything pretty fairly. I've only tried one other product from Ole Henriksen, and I love it, so I'm bound to love this herbal day creme, right?

Anyway, once we left Sephora, (where Tara made her first Sephora purchase, we are so proud of her), we found our way to the beach. It was simply wonderful. We went to Avila, and we ended up walking down the beach to a place that isn't usually accessible because of high tide. But, we accessed it, and it was great! The sand was softer, the rocks were whiter, and the water a bit more magical. With all of these things working on my soul, I decided I was going to go into the ocean for my first time this year. I walked out pretty far and didn't feel one rock beneath my feet. The waves splashed all around me as the late afternoon sun caused the water to glimmer and glow. The beauty of this earth swelled within me, and as the next wave came to greet me I dove right under it. It was the best feeling ever. I forget all the time that I love the water. But I love it. I do. I'm saying it here and now, so if at any point I mention that I'm "whatev" on swimming, you can tell me I'm wrong. It felt so good to swim. The water and the sunlight and the warmth all wriggled their way into my soul that I actually danced and jumped and leaped on the shore. It was fabulous.

While we were walking back to our towels, we saw a dog. And I got to pet him. I couldn't believe how great my day was going! Naturally by now we were starving, so we headed back to Atascadero (the longest word I know of that is typed almost entirely with the left hand) and went to eat dinner at Sylvester's. It was delicious.

At home we watched some Gilmore, took showers, and then introduced Tara to the world of Bare Minerals. We think she likes them. Also, I discovered a new way to do my eye make up.

I'm going to try it out at church tomorrow.

Oh baby, this post is long and totally worth it.

Oh baby, you will not believe what happened while I was in Reno!

We had the fabulous opportunity to go to a Square Foot Gardening presentation with the one and only Mel Bartholomew! Naturally we had to sign up for tickets the week before the event, which gave me plenty of time to tell my parents all about it. We also found out that Mel would be available for book signing after his presentation. This bit of information caused Mother's jaw to drop. Yup, she was that shocked and jealous. The day of my flight my parents handed me a new copy of Mel's book and bid me to get his signature or not bother coming back home.

After the presentation Kylie and I elbowed our way to the front to get in line to meet Mel.

We love standing in line:


And then, the magic moment:


Please note that we are all wearing red. I don't know what it means, but it must mean something.


After I had safely tucked away the autographed book we went into the nursery so the Comfolteys could pick up some stuff to make Mel's mix.

And there's Ky, picking it up.


She's so strong. I think it's all the baby lifting she does every day.

Also, while we were in the nursery, I proceeded to take a picture with every pretty plant:


Seeing how that volume is obviously extensive, I'll only give you one shot of the "Myriah with pretty plants" pictures.

The remainder of that day was spent working in the garden, and an excellent photo montage of the event can be found here.


After what could be described as the best sleep of my life, we went to church where I didn't hate Sunday School. This was obviously going to be a good day. I had expressed interest in seeing Lake Tahoe, so we decided we would go in the afternoon. We asked around and everyone gave us basically the same directions: Go over the summit, and turn left at the Smokey Bear sign. Smokey is huge and telling you the chances of wildfire, you can't miss it.

Sounds easy enough, so we headed up the mountain. Soon we saw this sign:

Sigh.

We didn't have chains in the car, and we certainly didn't have snow tires. The only thing we had was this Pirate's Booty, and we knew that wasn't going to help us.


So what did we do? I put on my lucky lip gloss, baby! And did we have a problem getting over the summit? NO. We even stopped to take a picture:


It was SO COLD. The only jacket I had brought was this fleece, and I almost didn't even bring that. Please notice the wind. I don't think the wind died down even for 5 minutes while I was visiting in Reno. It was crazy windy. I couldn't believe it.

Once we were over the mountain we drove right past the Smokey Bear sign. Everyone had blah blah blahed about how easy it was to find, but they didn't take into consideration that perhaps someone was trying to lead us astray:


We quickly figured out how to get to the lake and it was simply gorgeous. Windy, cold, and gorgeous.

I was going to add more pictures but blogger isn't interested in doing that right now.

Friends

I went to Reno this weekend to visit my friends.

A few people have asked me what my favorite part of the trip was, and quite honestly it was Kylie, Mike, and Skylar.

It was absolutely wonderful to remember that I actually have friends. It was so nice to be able to just be myself, without worrying about anything. I didn't have to pretend anything, I didn't have to hold back anything, I didn't have to give up anything, I could experience my most extreme highs and lows and I'll still be liked. I can simply exist with my friends without having to perform or cater to a certain mindset or attitude.

It was great.

In my current social situation with the ward here I feel like I'm always trying. It's tiring and frustrating. This weekend with my home-slices came at the perfect time. It was rejuvenating, and gave me hope for the future.

Two Items

Great news: I just finished planting quinoa in our garden.

Also, within hours of arriving home from Reno I am actually unpacked. I had no idea I had that kind of ability.