Podcast worth listening to

If you have an extra hour in the car, folding laundry, washing dishes, going on a walk, may I suggest this podcast.  It is from Radio West, Utah's NPR affiliate. It is a conversation with the authors of "The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life" and I was smitten by it. Maybe it's just where I am at in my life right now, but I have listened to it 2 or 3 times, and would listen again.  You can download it from iTunes really easily or listen online. I'd be interested to know what you think, good or bad. I wonder if it's really good, or if I just was in a place to hear right now. Like when you read a book that is just perfect for you in your current state, and you think it is the best thing ever written so you recommend it to a friend...who only gives it 3 stars on Goodreads. And at first you think they are crazy, but then you go back and read it a few years later and wonder why you loved it so much.

love this...rock my run

If found this site  on pinterest and thought I'd give it a try.  It's like iTunes for work-out mixes. I tried it and it worked great. For $3.99 I got a 90 minute mix that I dragged into iTunes and put on my iPod. I went running today and was movin' to the upbeat beat. The only downside is that you have one 90 minute song, so if you don't like a song on the mix it's harder to skip it. But most of the songs that I listened to were shortened (only the pump you up portion) so even if I didn't love the song it didn't last long.

I bought the Miles Fly By mix, but now I can't find it...so no guarantees on the others.

Don't get burned!

I did this post for my work blog. Warning--the pictures of Anna's foot are kind of awful...but she's back to her crazy, running, busy, busy self so all is well.

a few of my favorite things

You know how sometimes you buy things and then they are a dud? It's the worst feeling. But the converse is also true. When you buy something and you just love it...such a great feeling. I've had a few purchases end up in the win column lately, so I'm sharing the joy. Here you go.

• Old Navy Rockstar Jeggings  I am an admitted late adopter. I remember a few years ago when I bought my first pair of skinny jeans I told a friend that I only wore them with boots, because otherwise I felt like a 14 year old hipster girl with black nail polish. She suggested that with time I'd probably change my tune. She was right. I love the Rockstar because they are super comfortable, not too flashy and c-h-e-a-p. $19 in black (the color I have), $32 in other colors. (Today they are 15% off for Leap Day)

• A cordless vacuum. There are so many times I have a little spill and don't want to go upstairs and haul the full vacuum down. This little gem has been fabulous. 

• Along the same lines, this guy has cleaned up more messes than I'd care to remember. So handy. Money well spent.
• And to round out the cleaning supplies,  this dish cloth is amazing. When I went searching for the world's best dish cloth, I found that there was an I Love My Mabu club, which I thought was ridiculous. Come on, who loves a dish cloth? Me. Watch out--you may end up getting one for your birthday.

• I've praised dry shampoo before. It really is handy. While this is the creme de la creme, it is pricey and every time I use it I feel like I should be saving it for a special occasion. I found this one, and really like it. There are some things I like about it even more than the Bumble and bumble. It doesn't turn your fingers brown when you touch your hair. And it costs 10x less. Sold.
• For Valentine's Day/Birthday Ryan got me a fancy new blender. The verdict is still out on whether it is worth it, but we've found a creative way to get Ella to eat her fruits and veggies. I pile whole seeded grapes, strawberries, apples, pears, bananas and spinach into the blender and whip up a smoothie. Ella still wasn't sure, so we made fruit leather with the smoothie and she LOVES it. Healthy little green snack.

• Printables. I'm no whiz in Illustrator, but I'm getting better. Throw this quip (it looks better in person--it's kind of blurry on the blog) in a $1.99 Ikea frame and your nightstand is instantly cheerier. Email me if you want the original to play with. 
• Good-bye zullily, baby steals and all the others. Hello www.myhabit.com. It is Amazon's answer to the daily deal club, and I love it because it has free fast shipping and free returns. I've gotten some great deals, and I've got some not so great deals, but I just put them back in the box, printed the label and dropped it off at the UPS store. Easy peasy. (In truth, it's not a true return. You get Amazon credit instead of a refund. But for me, Amazon $ is as good as cash.)

There you have it. Your commercialism for the week. If you want to be spiritually uplifted, you can read this talk. I'm using it for my Relief Society lesson on Sunday.

Worthwhile Read

With the death of Kim Jong Il, I was reminded of this book. It is is one of the most interesting I've read in ages. I was amazed at how little I knew about North Korea.

Definitely worth checking out.

dine-o-round

Every year I say we are going to take advantage of Restaurant Week, and every year October 1st comes and goes without us dining o' round. If we make it downtown this year you may find me here, here, or here.

keeping up

I should probably just keep this to myself, and let you all think that I am an amazing cook and a real whiz in the kitchen....but I can't help myself. I just got a new cookbook and it looks amazing. I've only gotten through the first 50 pages but already I want to try my hand at these tasty treats. The cookbook is called keeping up cookbook and is written by the author of Favorites, a Collection of Ivory Family Recipes. Favorites is a great cookbook with tried and true recipes, but I think keeping up looks even better.

check it out here

Get Away

FYI, Southwest is having a 48-hour sale that ends today. Fly anywhere for $30-90 one way. Good deals to be had.

Some things that have been on my mind that I thought I'd share

• If you are thinking about traveling abroad, 2009 is the year. I thought tickets were cheap when we paid $720 (including taxes) to go to Italy. I was wrong. On a whim Ryan checked the going rate for our tickets.......$558. Man, oh, man. Woulda, shoulda.

• I am not a great gardener. My main goal with my yard is to not be an embarrassment to the neighborhood (seriously). But somehow, through no efforts of my own, I can grow Peonies. I have blooms upon blooms. If you'd like any to brighten your kitchen, please stop by. I'm giving them away right and left.

• I've been seeing tons of strep and H1N1 (swine flu). I'm not a huge proponent of taking kids to the doctor when they are sick because 90% of the time we can't do anything about it. But if your child has fever with any other symptoms, especially sore throat, cough, aches, vomiting, and just looks sick I would take them in (at least if you live in Utah; I can't vouche for outside the Intermountain West). Swine flu has been relatively mild, but there is a treatment that shortens symptoms by 2-3 days, so it's probably worth the trip.

• Last night Ryan and I celebrated 8 years of married bliss (well, mostly bliss.) If you know me at all you know that there is ALWAYS room for dessert. Last night was no exception. I boxed up most of my meal, but finished dessert. We were introduced to Amano chocolate. Heavenly. One of the best chocolate creations I've tasted. Oh...I'm salivating now just thinking about it. Yum.

Dine O'Round

Spring Dine O' Round; May 1-31 (Mother's Day excluded). Patrons are able to choose from a three-course dinner priced at either $15 or $30 per person, some restaurants offer a special two-course lunch for $10. Downtown Dine O' Round is an ideal way to explore new restaurants or revisit old favorites. There are no coupons, no punch cards, and no strings attached!

Anyone up for dinner?

Beck and Jer

Did you see the new button on my sidebar? Did you wonder, who is Beck? Who is Jer?

Well, Jeremy is one of my very most favorite people in the whole world. We went to medical school and residency together. He is one of those rare people who is universally liked. I honestly have never heard anyone speak ill of him (which is something I can't say for many residents...we are sometimes a little catty. It's the lack of sleep and abundance of stress, I'm sure.)

Anyway, he is really a great person, and he and his wife have been through some tough times. They are trying to adopt a baby and have created a web page to help their cause. You can check it out here. His sister-in-law is the infamous cjane, and she blogged about them here. She does a much better job than I of singing their praises, but I would echo everything she said. Check it out. Maybe the blogosphere can help this deserving family.

Something New

If you're bored in the kitchen and looking for something new and different, check this out. It is the Harlem 1st Ward cookbook, created by Jamie's Young Women. Jame tells me that there are some really great recipes, and some that are...well, unique. Either way, it's only $12 and goes for a good cause. You can email jamie at jamiesuewride@gmail.com or me at alissapacker@gmail.com if you want one. (The above website is actually one of Kimmy's friends who is in Jamie's ward. Small world.)

Good Deals

Albertsons is having a "stimulus package special" that goes until April 15th. If you buy a gift card over $200 you get 10% off, up to $1200. They don't expire, so as long as you don't lose them it's a great deal.

Conversations from the Corner Office

Don't worry, this medical mumbo jumbo won't take over my blog. But I wanted to let it be known that Strep is making it's way through Nurseries, Playgroups and Schools throughout the Wasatch Front. Today we saw a whole gaggle of kids with the nasty bug. Here in Utah it is particularly important to get treated because we have a very virulent strain. So...if your little one has a sore throat, fever, stomach ache, vomiting, headache or any combination of the above...get them tested. If you have cough, runny nose, etc, it is probably not strep.

Just so the grandmas don't shoot me, here's a picture of Ella.

Conversations from the Corner Office

The other day Jess asked me what was going around these days, and it got me to thinking...hanging around the Pediatrician's office is good for more than just free formula; you get to find out what bugs are lurking on the playground. Here's this week's PSA:

Lots: Basic cold with coughing, runny nose and more coughing. +/- fever

Little: Flu (not the stomach kind, the influenza kind. Body aches, fever, sore throat, cough). The flu vaccine and the flu strain match up beautifully. The anti-virals, on the other hand, are of little help against this year's virus. The moral of the story: it is a great year to vaccinate. And it's not too late. I am going to vaccinate Ella next month (when she's 6 months).
Lingering: Diarrhea and vomiting. But not necessarily at the same time. Could be one day of D, one day of V, two days free. Then start the cycle over again. How fun.

Stay tuned for next week!

Fascinating

This was NPR's #1 e-mailed story of 2008. I'm not sure which is more interesting...the article itself, or the fact that the most shared article is about child development. Either way I should probably invest in a tree branch or two.

Found the treehouse here. Darling.