all you need is love

annie is too young to write letters to santa, but i liked this letter written by my niece gretchen.

Dear Santa,
All I really only want for Christmas is lots of love and some money. I haven't been good but I haven't been bad.
Have a Merry Christmas
From,
Gretchen

gretchen and annie may 2006

howdy y'all

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

i saw this here.
when i was in istanbul, turkey, a guy staying at our hostel guessed from my accent that i was from west coast united states. he was right. i guess i do have a west coast accent (or lack thereof). although true to my utah roots, i do sometimes say fer instead of for. sorry.

the truth about nutrition

this was sent to me by a fellow ESL teacher.

For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting medical studies:


1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the Americans, British or Canadians.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the Americans, British or Canadians.

3. The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the Americans, British or Canadians.

4. The Italians drink large amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the Americans, British or Canadians.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than the Americans, British or Canadians.

6. Ukrainians drink a lot of vodka, eat a lot of perogies, cabbage rolls and suffer fewer heart attacks than the Americans, British or Canadians.

CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

i'm not a barbie girl

hate is a strong word, but i really really really don't like barbie. i never liked playing with her as a child, and i still don't. for 3 hours the other day i had to play barbies (really only one barbie, and the rest puppets, stuffed animals, or little people pirates) with a cute little girl i was babysitting. barbie is just so snotty with her perfect body, perfect hair, and self centered attitude. all the other characters have to watch her dance all day, give her presents, and stay out of her room. i never had a real barbie growing up. the only "barbie" i ever had that i liked was ms. hippo, a veluptuous doll with a hippo head, who would sometimes play with ms. giddyup, my sister's "barbie" that had a horse head. i just hope annie doesn't grow up wanting to play barbies. i'll just have to send her to play with liz or emily.

to dan

when you're there, i sleep lengthwise and when you're gone i sleep diagonal in my bed.

Paco

Paco
March 1995 - November 25, 2006

Paco passed away quietly after a short but courageous fight with pancrieatitis surrounded by family on November 25, 2006. Not knowing his real family he instantly became part of the Curtis home when Blair brought him home as a small puppy. Paco was always kind and gentle with kids and loved the mail man and UPS trucks. Paco liked to dress up in women's clothes and was well known for his many tricks. Paco was preceded in death by his sister Zurnkey, favorite nephew Toby Blackburn, and good friends Smooch Lowder and Cindy Jorgensen. He is survived by Mark & LaFaunda Curtis, Chame Blackburn (Jon), Michele Bolke (Dan), Blair Curtis (Maisy), Stuart Curtis (Jane), Grant Hall and many friends. He loved Halloween and garbage day. He will be greatly missed as he truly was part of the family and our best friend.

gracias, merci, danke, and shashese

among the many things that i am thankful for i am thankful that i have been able to travel and experience other cultures.
places outside of the united stated that i have been to (in alphabetical order):
austria
bahamas
bulgaria
canada
costa rica
cuba
czeck republic
denmark
england
france (drove through on the train)
germany
greece
guatemala
hungary
italy
japan
mexico
netherlands (airport)
norway
peru
portugal
puerto rico
romania
spain
st. thomas
st. johns
turkey (mmm turkey)
thanks for the adventures.

you're not that big

that is what i say to the opening band at the ben lee concert on friday. the first band (john ralston) had some feedback problems at the beginning of the set, so the lead singer walked off and didn't come back on to play. he left the poor keyboardist and other members to work on the technical difficulties, then they didn't even play. when you are an unknown opening band, you can't afford the luxury of walking out of shows. i think. anywho, under the influence of giants, the second band, played an entertaining set. however the lead singer's femininity was distracting, not to mention his eighties sailor themed womans cardigan and michael jacksonesque squeals. the bass player had some good moves and a cool beard. the third band, rooney, played well, although they played too long, and the singer had to keep begging the audience for applause. finally ben lee shined in his performance as well as his gold metallic suit. he is such a happy little fellow. he even scored more points for covering modest mouse. if only it wasn't so dang cold in saltair and blair hadn't eaten the carnitas burrito from betos for lunch...

so many boys

we went to 2 baby blessings today. blair and maisy blessed little william, and dan's brother john blessed their little boy sam. now annie has 6 boy cousins within 1 year of her. 3 born the year before her, and 3 the year after. also all of my friends youngest kids are boys. what is going on?

pleasant suprise

i usually try to avoid airplane bathrooms, but the lemongrass wasabi handsoap in the delta bathrooms is delightful.

happy divali

saturday we went to the divali festival at the krishna temple. the guy was talking about being nice to cows and being vegetarian and so on and dan made a comment about a girl wearing a fur coat, and how it probably is not the most appropriate attire. then on the way home he realized that he had worn his leather jacket.

only in utah county

so a while ago i had to venture deep into the heart of utah county. you know those big inflatable balloon characters that they have at car dealerships? well, i was in orem and atop a building there was a giant inflatable missionary. ok so it was on top of a missionary suit store or something, but still...a giant inflatable missionary?

mmm doner kebabs

today was the best doner kebab session we have had yet. we keep cooking up doner kebabs in an attempt to simulate the delicious kebabs found in europe, especially bulgaria. we still haven't perfected the process, but we are getting better. dan sliced the chicken and marinated it overnight in dr. pepper, yogurt and spices. we made falafels and fries to go in the kebabs, and a good tzatziki sauce. there were about 20 people who came to dinner to sample the goods. one day dan hopes to make doners as delicious as this guy (not that the guy is delicious, but the doner kebabs - he is kinda cute though).

never say never

i never thought that i would be moving to utah county, but we are currently in the process of buying a house in american fork and i am actually excited about it. i just don't know if i am grown up enough to be a homeowner. here is the lovely 1975 split level that we may soon be inhabiting. notice the view of mt. timpanogos in the window. now i really won't have an excuse for never having been to timpanogos cave or hiking the mountain.

they have the internet on computers?

ok so i'm really not an internet junkie or anything, but i was feeling left out because everyone else has a blog and i didn't. so anyway i thought that i would try out this new technology, and document my life for the world to see. it may be a bad idea.