Weekend Update with HRH

I'm still plugging away at Lent with "lapses" every couple days. Although I have not been able to totally eliminate treats and high-sugar foods, I have significantly reduced the consumption. I feel the difference in my body and I'm eating more heathfuly. For example, on a recent grocery shopping trip I loaded my cart, on happenstance, with only food in its natural form (besides milk and whole-grain bread). I've rediscovered pears and everyone needs to try the Greek honey yogurt from Good Earth -- after going Greek, you just can't go back.

I gave up Facebook for a week. Not hard at all. I thought it would be hard and take some will-power. With Facebook deleted from my address book and no access at work, the week slipped by without me noticing very much, if at all, that Facebook was missing. I'd recommend it (the going without, not Facebook).

I'm training for a 5K -- never ran so far in my life. Miss J and I are on a schedule: run 1.5 miles Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays with increasing distance weekly and cross training Wednesdays. I have had this goal before but it never materialized because I wasn't motivated. I'm successful because we are training to run The Race for the Cure in May in support of our friend Lulu, who has breast cancer. I'm pretty stoked. It's a big group and we're doing shirts at all. Most importantly, it's really encouraging for Lulu.

I'm heading to NYC in June. My sister runs leadership camps for high schoolers in NYC, DC, and Cali all summer. My mom and I are going to visit her in-between camps. Our plan is to just see show after show after show, then go to H&M, tour, then see another show. Recommendations on shows?

I met with a mortgage broker but, in thinking things over, I'm not going to buy a house. I could, but I've decided to focus more on grad school. I'm taking a GRE prep course in May and then doing an Anthro class in the summer. I think I'd like to do a Ph.D. in Anthropology. Duke and UC San Diego have programs that look neat (if... no... when I get in). Is it weird to say that part of my inspiration comes from Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants II where Bridgett does an archaeological dig in Turkey? (I don't want to be an archaeologist, but I'd like to go on a dig if they'd let me). I'm even more stoked about it after reading (though I'm not quite finished) Guns, Germs, and Steel. It's the first non-fiction I've read (ok, so compared to Gladwell and Pollan) that the author was a true expert and it's wasn't super repetitive. I've learned so so much. The book is all about how society got to where it is and why other societies didn't seem to evolve the same. It's a long book and I don't think I'd have made it through except that it's on CD in my car, but I'd highly, highly recommend it.

My girl (that's us in the photo) Vali, in Germany, got her mission call to Temple Square. I yelled much when I heard, as did my mom. We just love her and her family. She said, "You came to us and now I'm coming to you!" She's the girl who, at age 14, who asked if we could knock some doors when the appointment we'd invited her to fell through. Who does that? Vali is a very special person.

And that's the update.