This Was Inevitable! (Cont'd)

So, I tried to put a few of my favorites on the post, but it would only let me upload so many (I guess), so I'm doing a second post to put the rest on (I couldn't leave any of these out!) These albums come highly recommended, especially by myself. By the way, the picture inside the LDS Conference Center is there to represent the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra on Temple Square (I couldn't find a satisfying picture). That picture also represents the concerts given by Sissel, Bryn Terfel, Audra McDonald, Frederica Von Stade, and Angela Lansbury, along with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They were absolutely fabulous! ENJOY!

This Was Inevitable!

I do not apologize for this! No matter how hard I try to wait until after Thanksgiving to play Christmas music, my efforts were futile. With the little snow that fell last weekend, the sudden cold weather, and Faith Hill's new Christmas cd that was released at the end of September, I am now completely immersed in Christmas music. For those of you who enjoy Christmas music whenever, I am sure you understand. For those of you who insist that Christmas music only be played after Thanksgiving and before New Years, I will try to keep it to myself until November 28, but I make no guarantees.
PS, Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Hanukkah, and Merry Christmas!

Autumn in Utah County

Because I had not been to the canyons to see the leaves as different colors, I decided to do so before the cold and, possibly, snowy weekend. The day actually turned out to be a perfect day for touring the canyon (Alpine Loop and Cascade Falls...and surrounding areas). The photos really don't do it justice, but they're still exceptional (and not just because I took them). These are only some of the many that I took. I hope you enjoy them!

Cultural Experience

It seems that every year, for as long as I can remember, I would look at the calendar and notice holidays like Boxing Day, Ramadan, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Kwanzaa, among others. In high school, we had a display in one of the halls that had a display that showed up around November with wishes such as "Happy Kwanzaa", "Happy Ramadan", "Happy Hanukkah", and "Merry Christmas". I was impressed and wanted to learn about these holidays and be able to experience them. My first experience was Rosh Hashanah.

After reading about the significance of Rosh Hashanah, I learned that it Rosh Hashanah it is the celebration of the Jewish New Year and that it also represented the day man was created. In addition to this information, I found some food information. Three examples of food were apples and honey (which was very tasty), tzimmes, and glazed apricot carrots with peppers. Here are some pictures of the tzimmes and glazed carrots:

Both dishes were quite tasty, but my preference were the glazed carrots! My roommate, who decided to participate as well, preferred the tzimmes. However, we both really enjoyed the apples and honey.

Overall, Rosh Hashanah was a great experience! My next experience will be Hanukkah and I'm pretty excited!

Celebrity Look-alikes

It's funny how there are some people you greatly resemble and others who don't look a thing like you. What's even funnier is when people tell you that you look like someone who doesn't even look like you. This mostly happens to me when people tell me I look like celebrities. The other day, I was at work and someone told me that I looked a lot like Brad Pitt.

I wanted to laugh but realized that it would be inappropriate for the situation I was in, so I refrained. However, that comment made me remember some other celebrities I have been told that I resemble. I could only remember the names of 2 other celebrities. These include Val Kilmer and Guy Pearce. What can I say...I knew I was destined for stardom!! Here are some pictures...I'll let you judge for yourselves. I don't think there's much of a resemblance...

"[To dye] While the Sun Shines"

When it comes to boredom, I believe everyone is unique in how they deal with it. When I am bored, I try and think of something I can change. Some examples include moving furniture around in my room. Many times, I will clean, do yard work, read (but that usually delays boredom for a few hours...depending on how good the book is), and so forth. Recently, I attempted to change my hair color. I was confident there would be no problems because I had been successful in the past. Just a few months ago, my friend dyed my hair a darker color (dark brown with some red in it). It went well. However, over the last couple of months, the color faded and, I thought, was gone.

I decided to go blond (not bleached, just blond) and I found the right color. I put it in my hair and left it in for an hour. After washing out the chemical, I realized I was in some trouble. My hair had turned orange and had some dark brown highlights (areas I must have missed...I was sure I put the chemical all over). Well, I did not want orange hair, so i decided that bleached hair would be better than orange hair, so I bleached my hair again (that was twice in the same day). While my hair did not go white (it was a lighter orange...almost golden color. It reminded me of the way I pictured the young Gellert Grindelwald), it was at least still attached to my head (as opposed to falling out, which was possible because I bleached it twice that day).

Well, I figured before I did anything else to ruin my hair, I'd wait a few days and try and ask someone who knew what they were doing. I went to my parents house for a couple of days and my mom knew a professional hair colorer and made an appointment for me. When I went, the lady asked me what I had done and I told her everything. Between her bits of laughter, she told me she was surprised for a couple reasons. First of all, that my hair was not whiter and, second, that my hair was still there. She told me that the most likely reason for what happened with the hair color was the previous dye job a couple months ago, when I died it a darker brown (with red tints). Luckily, she was able to work her magic and turn my hair back to a normal-looking color.

In short, I learned a valuable lesson. What was supposed to be a cheap ($8.00) and quick (2 hours) alternative to boredom ended up being a $45 4-day alternative to boredom. I have now learned my lesson and can guarantee that the only change my hair color will experience from here on out will be the result of growth and, hopefully in the very-distant future, graying. Whatever the change, it will be natural!