Palo Alto! Mormon Singles!

After I got home from New Orleans in April, I spent a few days in SLC, then Celisse and I were off to Palo Alto for the Silicon Valley Education Conference. It happens every 2 years, and I'd missed it last time because I was too busy planning another conference in LA. I'd kinda forgotten about this one, but Celisse got me on board and we signed up.

I really like that this is billed as an education conference, instead of just another Mormon singles conference. The speaker line up was excellent, and I was really excited to be in a place that seemingly has a lot of smart and driven people.

Celisse and I flew over on Friday morning, then I meandered through downtown Palo Alto for awhile since I'd never been, while she had lunch with a friend. We met up to get ready for Friday night's activity - dinner groups and a mixer. We headed to the Dutch Goose and quickly found the Mormons.

California smells like flowers everywhere. I love it.

After dinner we headed over to the evening's social activity with everyone - a white party. Most people complied with the dress code. And I guess after years of being single in the Mormon world and living all over the country, you start to know a lot of people...and all the same people come to these kinds of things :) It was good to see some LA and DC and NYC friends.

Saturday morning started with a keynote from Clayton Christensen, who was the main draw for me. The man's a genius.  He talked about his New Yorker articles, he talked about the lead up to Larry Pressler becoming a Mormon (in the same building where I attended church in DC - miss that ward!), and he gave one of the best missionary lessons I've ever heard. I'm glad I was able to hear him teach.

The rest of the day's classes were so good, too. I went to a class where Jane spoke about the parable of the sower and how much more we can accomplish and contribute when we eliminate untruths from our lives. Prime example -  being at a singles conference and feeling uncomfortable. What is the source of that discomfort? Will people think I look/sound/talk weird? I might think that, but it's not true. What are my actions if I believe that's true vs realizing it's not and being confident? So many other examples to life, but this was a really great class.

Jennifer Finlayson-Fife spoke about maturing in relation to self and others, and balancing our self esteem and boundaries. Really insightful class.

Last key note - Steve Young. He was pretty entertaining, but left a good message. I think we (Mormon singles) especially get caught up in milestones and where we're supposed to be (married, with kids, etc) and if we're not there, it's hard to move forwards sometimes. But as Steve said, if you prayed your way to where you are, you're in the right place. I feel good about that.

At this point we had a break in the day, and Celisse and I had been scheming on how we could get a Google tour. During our lunch break I had turned around and saw a guy who looked so familiar. Turns out this guy looks exactly like his brother, who had married my friend Holly in January. I introduced myself and said hello - he did indeed confirm that he is Holly's brother in law, and it came up that he works at Google. I was quick so say - so....how does one get a Google tour? And Ryan jumped and said he'd be happy to take me and any friends. So after classes, me, Cher, Celisse, and Sergio piled into Ryan's car and drove the mile down the road to Google campus. Since it was Saturday, a lot of things were closed (no free food for us), but it was cool to see some stuff and ride the Google bikes!

Saturday night Celisse's friend was having a birthday gathering since so many friends were in town. Yeah, the thirty of us or so took over this place.

We went back to the Computer History Museum that night for the social activities - a chocolate tasting, dancing, food, and even bingo.

Sunday morning I got up early and went to another class with the Ulrichs - talking about unlocking divine potential through questions. What do I want? Who can I serve? How do I build organizations and culture? Will I believe? Another really excellent class.

Then we had regular church, a little food, then it was time to head back to the airport. Glad I got to spend the weekend with Celisse and Cher and 400 other friends.

More May Adventures

Labor Day weekend is wrapping up and summer is officially over, though isn't it always summer in LA?

Let's get this blog caught up to actually talk about what happened this summer!  Some random things from May:

Haleigh and I showed up on SYTYCD, once again. Right by Nigel's head! These were the LA auditions.

I go to baseball games for the Doyer Dogs. This was Ben's birthday outing.

I'd wanted to see the Duck Beach Documentary, and thought I'd invite a few friends over for a viewing. Turns out, a lot of people out West don't know about the Duck phenomenon, and a ton of people came over to see the spectacle.  We had a great time, despite a couple technical difficulties and trying to cram everyone into my living room!

Oh, another baseball shot. And during the game, I noticed that a fellow Georgetown alum friend had checked in on Facebook.  I hadn't see Jose in about a decade, but we met up outside the game and said hello. Thanks, social media!

Another spectacle in May, similar to Duck Beach - the Huntington Beach Mormon Midsingles Conference.  I'd never been, but decided to commit this year to 800+ people in a weekend of madness.  For the most part, it was alright, and I'd go again. The Saturday night event was held at near Balboa Island, with access to the arcade and boat rides and all sorts of things.

I touched some sea creatures.

Balboa Bars!

Beach one afternoon, to clear my head. I spent all of the non-conference hours in the middle of a very intense break up conversation with the one I'd dated for the previous six months. It sucked.  Sucked. Sucked. Kinda hard to go from that to putting on my game face and mingling with a lot of strangers. And my car didn't start one morning and I had to ride with him to a couple events, splitting up as soon as we got there, and resuming break up conversations once it was over.  Not the best weekend. And one of the reasons I left LA for a good part of the summer.  It's far from resolved in my head and my heart, but I'm moving forward as best I can.  Anyway!  Onward!

To tacos! Scott organized a taco crawl through LA the night after the conference. So many tacos to eat!

Highly recommend the sampler at Guisados - pick six kinds, share with a friend, get a bite of each, and save room for the rest of the taco tour.

Stop #2 - Mexicali Tacos.
The vampiro with a garlic sauce was winner.  I missed the next two stops for some reason, but I was stuffed at this point!

Good friends bring chocolate and flowers during breakups.

About ten people I know and some I didn't were going to this show and had an extra ticket. I was happy to take it and happy to have fun seeing this band.

These things were on sale and I LOVE them. Happiness at the grocery store. I could eat a pack a day.

Another social media save, I saw that one of my very best friends from high school was in LA for the weekend. I haven't seen Josh in 8 years, so we just had to meet up.  Lunch on the beach!

A Homecoming King and Queen, 1998 - Poteau High School

We bid adieu to Marcello, who was off to photograph New Kids on the Block for the summer. Boy band tour! We all had tacos in his honor, of course.

Best taco truck - Los Primos in Lincoln Heights.

For Memorial Day, a group of friends attended the service at the Los Angeles National Cemetery. It was a really lovely thing, and I'd like to make it an annual tradition.

Then I packed for the East Coast....stories coming soon from NC, DC and NYC!

May Day Resolutions - How'd I Do?

So remember how at the beginning of May I made a couple resolutions?

It's been a month - time to check in.

First - the sugar thing.

Well.

I did pretty well for two solid weeks of not eating sugar.  No desserts, no soda, no cereals with sugar, etc.

Then I went to Phoenix, was surrounded by desserts, sugared cereal, family events, and man, it's hard when you're not in control of when and where you eat.

Let's just say I gave in a little short of the 21-day goal.  I took mom out to dinner and the blackberry lemonade had to be ordered.  As well as that salted caramel Madagascar vanilla pretzel cone dessert.  

Do I feel like the no sugar diet helped?  Eh, not really.  Maybe I should've tried it for a longer period of time.  But I'm currently in Italy eating gelato at least twice a day, so it'll be awhile before I try it again.

Second - The Book of Mormon goal.

Well,

I'm not quite finished.  I made it through all of Alma by June 1.  I've made good progress.  It feels good to get over that middle hump that I so rarely seem to pass.  I'm into Helaman now and I'll definitely finish by the time I'm back home this month.  I feel okay about this one.

This trip has so far inspired me to learn Italian and learn to play polo.  Maybe those will be my next goals.  I'll keep you posted. 

May Day

Man, April was a crazy month.  A good month, but I was all over the place. Kinda like this post will be.

A few things on my mind.

A) Starting today, I'm going to attempt to go mostly sugar free for 3 weeks.  That might sound like a halfhearted sentence, but I'm committed.  It means that I'm not drinking sugary drinks (soda/juice) (the occasional DP 10 might sneak in there) nor eating desserts nor candy.  I've noticed that I feel bad after I've eaten that junk.  It's time to listen to my body.  I figure three weeks is good, because doesn't it take 21 days to break/establish a habit?  Oh, and on May 22 I'm flying to Europe and I'm sure I will just need to eat some gelato in Italy or macarons in Paris or something.  But maybe I won't even want them!

B) I'm going to read the Book of Mormon all the way through in the month of May.  I read all of 1 Nephi on planes yesterday, so I'm off to good head start.  For some reason, it just feels easier while reading on my phone.  And I can still make notes and bookmarks and it's all there, digitally waiting for me anytime I want to read.

C) Things that have crossed my mind that I want to know more about:

1. Socks - When did people start wearing them and when did they come fashion statements?  I want to know about the evolution of socks.  Maybe I started thinking about this while standing in line for TSA and watching people go barefoot through the airport.  Ick.  
2. 3D printing - I want to see one of these in action.  Anyone know where I can do that?  The latest issue of the Economist really had me thinking.  Go read:  http://www.economist.com/node/21552903  Some researchers are printing skin and muscle and stuff!  That's fascinating.
3. Seed storage - I read an article about the big seed storage place in Norway.  I don't think I realized that such a thing existed before!  I wish I could find the original article, but wikipedia is helpful.  I think the article was about a specific country that has some farming threats, and they're packaging up some seeds to send to the Arctic.  All very interesting.

That's all for now.  Except, did I tell you that I met Gary Lightbody last weekend?  It won't be the last time I tell you.  I have adored him for years.  And I made my dream come true. 

Brandon Flowers: I'm a Mormon

Maybe he's ditched the guyliner, but I've long maintained that if Mormon dudes were as cool as BFlow, I'd have been married a long time ago.  Even with the guyliner.