Project Runway

Last night we had Fashion Night for FHE at the L.A. First Ward.

Fashion Night.

The rules were simple:

Four teams.
Four team captains.
A large supply of paper and plastic bags from Trader Joe's.
A large supply of black trash bags.
One pair of scissors per team.
One roll of scotch tape per team.
Fifteen minutes.

Sounds fun? It certainly was.

HOWEVER,

the thing that made it so interesting was that we had actual
fashion design students
in our ward who could really help us make it all happen.

I love Los Angeles.

Check out the latest designs created in part by Yours Truly -

(and yes, I am very proud of what we came up with):

This is us starting out.

Click any photo to enlarge it.


Careful attention to detail, of course.
The tape was quite handy to have around.


The presentation to the audience.
Note the braided spaghetti straps.


That's right. Those are full-on rosettes we made out of black trash bag material.


Thank goodness we got the cute little Asian girl on our team -
she was the perfect model for the dress.


This is April hugging our team captain, Josh (who just happens to be attending a fashion design school here in L.A.).


For those who want to watch the short video (about two minutes long) of the entire competition, click on this link:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=704644759269

Ah, the Joys of Childhood.

Remember when it didn't take very much to make you laugh really hard?

I mean, do you remember when you were young, and even the stupidest things could make you laugh so hard that you were on the floor crying and your sides were hurting?

For instance, I remember when I was about five years old, and one night my family was pretty well entertained by the fact that I would laugh like crazy whenever my brother and sisters would walk up to me with an excited, deranged look on their faces and shout...

"POTATO!"

I would just die laughing at that. It was so funny.

Do you remember? Well, if you do, make sure you actually sit through this entire classic Sesame Street skit I found on Time Magazine's Top Ten Sesame Street Moments:

It Passed

My fellow Americans,

I just want to announce the good news to anyone who reads this:

The health care reform bill passed in the House of Reps tonight.

My political interpretation:
This is one step in a very, very good direction.
AND
I hope the Senate passes their bill, too.
(Cross your fingers!)

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

YEAH YEAH REGINA!

Last Wednesday I had the incredible opportunity to go to see Regina Spektor perform at the Greek Theater here in LA. This made me very, very happy. I'll admit that before the concert I really didn't know much about her music, but this concert gave me a great excuse to buy one of her CD's. And you know what? I haven't stopped listening to it since the day I bought it!

Needless to say, the concert was fantastic, and I wanted you all to watch one of the coolest performances of the night (thank goodness for Youtube, and crazy fans who go through the efforts of recording these things on their own cameras and then figuring out how to post them online!). It's a song she only performs at her concerts (i.e. it's not released on CD) called "Silly Eye Color Generalizations", and I thought this performance really epitomized everything Regina is known for -- her creative song writing skills, her beautiful voice, and her sort of shy innocence she displays with the audience despite her incredible talent. Watch it below! Then watch it again! Then watch it a third time! (I know I did...)

Please note: the very first of the song isn't recorded since the girl recording took a short while to take out her camera and start recording. But that's okay! I've written them here for you!

SILLY EYE COLOR GENERALIZATIONS

There are those boys
With earthy eyes
Their eyes are like the ground...

WASN'T THAT AMAZING???

The concert was also a great opportunity to test the limits of my brand-new camera! They are small, and they are blurry, but you can see them below!

Okay, that last one isn't Regina. But I'm pretty sure it's her biggest fan! The guy must be at least fifty years old and he was sitting right next to me and knew every word of every song she sang. And that made me laugh.

YEAH YEAH REGINA!

No, I am not dead.

I know. I haven't posted for a long while. Blogging used to be my THING...and then I just sort of went on [PAUSE] mode.
But don't worry.
Ideas are a-brewing.
Creative juices are a-flowing.
Wheels are a-turning.
Just you wait, 'enry 'iggins.

For now...

"Amazing!" "COOL!" "A brilliant display of Awesome-ness!" "Superb!" "Spectacular!" "Whoa!!!" "NEAT-O!" "Holy Guaca-moly!" "Hello America's coolness!" "Two thumbs WAY up!" "Ice-Ice-BABY!!!" "So good!" "YES!" "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "WOW!" "Stunning!" "Goal!!!" "Rock-o!" "He's done it again!" "Zippidy Do-Dah!" "Goodness gracious great balls of fire!" "SO AWESOME!!" "Fantastick with a K!" "Nothing is as good as this!" "O-KAY!" "Divine and Holy!" "I'm Lovin' It!" "Hot Dog!"

That's what critics are saying about my next post. You will want to read it.
A hint on what I'm writing about?
Her name starts with R...
and rhymes with "Flegina Spektor".

And her music is incredible.

And she looks like this:

To Infinity...AND BEYOND!

The following is an email I just received:

Galactic Greetings Space Ranger,

You have received an intergalactic transmission from a friend who has just completed

a mission on the new Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster interactive experience at Disneyland® Park in California.

To Infinity and Beyond!

http://www.disneyland.com/Buzz

© Disney

(I'm the one on the left with his face covered by his astro-blaster as he is devoting all of his focus and energy into zapping the evil emperor Zurg.)

Suffice it to say that I went to Disneyland yesterday and had a BLAST!

Now I'm WAY Excited!

Okay. I can't embed this great video of my step-brother and his fiancee, but I can certainly give everyone the link!

(Check it out.)

(December 5, 2009 will be a very good day.)