Holi again

For those of you who wondered about it, here's a video of the Holi Festival of Colors where Lauren had such a blast last weekend.  Oh, and incidentally, my cool cousin Aaron did the music for this clip. 

Doesn't that look amazing? I love the moments when the colors are thrown. So brilliant.

I need more color in my life. (There's an April Fools Day snowstorm predicted around here tomorrow. Boo.)

Colors.

Wow, that was such a quick trip. My apologies to all those we didn't see this time around (everyone). Lauren was running the show and she definitely had us running! 

I did get to see the Carl Bloch exhibit (thanks for the tip, Allysha), which was lovely. Actually, I had a TON of time to myself since Lauren had no lack of nice friends to show her around and, let's be honest, moms kind of get in the way of those kinds of things.  At least that's what I'm led to believe. 

And I also believe that Lauren is infinitely closer to making a decision. I think we both kind of felt the vibes at one particular place. She's still weighing options but it was definitely a well-taken trip because it changed a lot of her perceptions and feelings about the schools--not a blinking arrow but close enough.

At the end, she caught up with some of her friends from last summer's Tonga trip. As luck had it, it was the weekend of Holi, a Hindu festival of colors celebrating spring. What a blast she had! She also got to catch up with her cute friend Jared before he left on his mission for Mississippi.

. . .

Okay, speaking of colors, as I mentioned a little earlier today, I am in the throes of trying to select a paint color for our master bedroom and bathroom.  Here's my plea for a little audience participation today:

What's your favorite paint color that's a neutral but still a color?

Pretty please?

En route

Today Lauren and I are flying west to visit some of the colleges that are on her short list. She's been admitted (yay + whew!) but now it's time to decide. We'll be at BYU tomorrow, USU on Friday for their A-Day for admitted students, and Westminster in between. All of the schools have strengths (including some scholarships, hooray) so she's hoping to get a good feel for each and be drawn to one in particular so she can make a choice. 

You know what's more difficult than making this kind of decision? Watching your very own child make this kind of decision!  I know she's en route to the rest of her life and it will be wonderful to watch and support her but it's humbling watching her eye the first huge decision she's making for herself, entirely. Is a big flashing arrow sign for her too much to ask?

How did you (or your kids) choose? As far as I remember, I was pretty haphazard and things worked okay in the end. Or at least that's what I'm reminding myself.

. . .

In other news, change must be in the air because yesterday I cut 10 inches from my hair (& was thrilled that Pantene can use it for their program for cancer patients). Gone! I've re-discovered that I'm a short hair kind of gal and, as much as I enjoyed my foray into the world of long flowing locks (which on me became long limp tangled locks), I feel much more like myself now. Basically, I think it comes down to the fact that I'm more spunky than sultry. I grinned as soon as she cut off the ponytail. So light and free! Hats off to Donna, my new hairstylist extraordinaire. Here are the inspiration photos and results:

for an edgier look

for calmer days

and here's the result, via webcam. I maintain that I look like muppet, especially right around the mouth

Intersections

On the corner of Horrifying and Funny:

Yesterday I got this text message from Lauren:

Are there any holocaust cookbooks you would suggest?

I wasn't sure if I should recoil in horror (yes) or laugh really hard (that, too). Silly auto-correct. For the record, once I asked for clarification I learned that she was asking if I knew of any good books about the holocaust. 

. . .

On the corner of Funny and Hooray:

You guys, The Jolly Porter is back from blogging retirement. You're welcome.

. . .

On the corner of Hooray and Hmmm...

We sat down and watched the Les Mis 25th Anniversary Concert this weekend. Ah, memories. It was nostalgic and fun to share the music and story with my kids (and we now have wishful plans to see the musical somewhere soon). The hmmm part was when Marius came out and it was...well, I'll let you see. My girls were kind of happy about it, though.

For one of the encores, they had the original 1985 London cast join in. I know I'm showing my geek (and cliche) colors here but I LOVED it. These were the voices on my really worn taped copy of Les Mis in high school and the people I saw every few weeks when I was in London on study abroad in 89 (back in the days when I wandered around the city and listened to On My Own on my walkman). It felt like a vocal family reunion.

Although, here's the thing: it made me feel a bit aged realizing it has been 25 years. The 80s Marius is a rather old and pudgy (though obviously thrilled and emotional to be there). And you know that the 80s Cosette was all "I've still got it so I'm going to wear my black sequined onesie to show off my legs."

Anyway, you should watch it when it hits your PBS station. p.s. Les Mis is starting a US tour soon, too.

En garde

Last weekend Lauren's fencing team went to state championships. I forgot my camera (which, sadly, disqualified me from Mom state championships) but we managed to snap a few photos on Lauren's point-and-shoot camera.

Lauren's fencing career got off to a late start two years ago as a sophomore when several of her friends talked her into giving it a try. She's never been too interested in competitive sports (this is the laidback girl who said, after trying swim team "it's fun but why does it have to be about how fast you are?") but she has LOVED fencing.

It suits her. (Doesn't it look cathartic?)

Her weapon is sabre (there's also epee and foil); they do a really quick bout with quick lunges and touches. All those cords get plugged into a system that detect when her sabre makes a hit or when she gets hit.

She had her best meet ever and went 4/4 in the first heat, helping her combined team to take 2nd in state and qualifying herself for individuals. So proud of her and her darting sabre.

So glad I'm not on the receiving side of her darting sabre.

Her coaches were Olympic fencers and the team has sent quite a few students to the Junior Olympics. You can tell the JO fencers by the fancy jackets with their name and USA on the back.

 

LOVE this girl. 

p.s. G and I referred to the guy in the background with the gold jacket as Wesley As-You-Wish a la Princess Bride but really he was a cross between Inigo Montoya and Wesley. He was entertaining. Maybe you had to be there.